On December 6, Yoann Devriendt-Renault defended his doctoral thesis at the Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort (ENVA) - specializing in Chemistry - in Maisons-Alfort. The thesis, entitled "Du sol à l'assiette - impact des traitements thermiques sur le devenir de la chlordécone (CLD) dans les aliments et les sols antillais", is an integral part of the ANR JCJC AlimOmic project (www.alimomic.fr). The thesis was supervised by Julien Parinet (LSAl-PBM) and Thierry Guérin (DSP).
The aim of this thesis was to answer the question of how to reduce an individual's exposure to CLD when ingesting an impregnated animal foodstuff. Through his work, Yoann was first able to calculate the processing factors (PF) of various matrices (fish, lobster, chicken, pork, etc.) subjected to different cooking methods (oven, frying pan and microwave). These PF may be useful for risk assessment. Microwaves were also found to be the most effective way of reducing CLD levels. In a second stage, elimination routes were investigated and revealed the possibility of volatilization of CLD, which is also transferred to cooking juices. inally, it would appear that CLD is partly converted to Chlordecol by heat treatment. This original work opens up a number of new avenues of inquiry, and questions which the LSAL will be pursuing in the coming months and years, in order to support risk assessment.
The thesis jury, comprising Dr. Magalie Jannoyer (CIRAD) and Pr. Jean Luc Boudenne (Univ ; Aix-Marseille) as rapporteurs, Pr. Patrick Hohener (Univ. Aix-Marseille) and Dr. Agnès Fournier (Univ. Lorraine) as examiners, recognized the high quality of the oral presentation, the manuscript and the scientific valorization associated with this thesis, with 2 publications in 1st quartile (Q1) journals!
Congratulations to Yoann on his ENVA doctorate!