Multiclass Environmental Contaminants in Fish

Keywords food safety micro pollutants environment POPs OCPs PCBs PAHs BFRs fish feed fish farming liquid extraction 

Fish with high fat contents is an important source of long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in the human diet, in particular for docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (EFSA, 2005). On the other side, a wide range of environmental contaminants have been reported to be accumulated in fish that can pose a potential human health hazard (Leonard, 2011). Major contaminations include the different OCPs, PAHs or the widely distributed persistent organic pollutants (POPs) with the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and the flame retardants compound class of the polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs). Also farmed fish can significantly contribute to dietary exposure to various contaminants due to the use of land sourced fish feed. A multi method for efficient control of fish and fish feed for various groups of contaminants from PCBs, OCPs, BFRs (brominated flame retardants) and PAHs is outlined in the following analytical procedure published by Kamila Kalachova et al. (Kalachova et al., 2013). 

The multiclass sample preparation for PCBs, OCPs, BFRs and PAHs is based on the liquid extraction of the hydrophobic target analytes from an aqueous sample 

Transfer into organic phase (MgS04 + NaCi) 

As internal quantitation standards C-labelled BDE 209 (SOng/mL), Relabelled PCB 101 (40 ng/mL) and a 16 EPA-PAHs mix as RC-labelled compounds (2 ng/mL) is spiked to the final extract. 

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This method describes the trace determination of multiclass environmental contaminants in fish and fish feed. The analytical performance meets the EU SANCO criteria for the control of food and feed contaminants with high recoveries and good repeatability. 

J. (2013) Gas chromatography-triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry a powerful tool for the (ultra)trace analysis of multiclass environmental contaminants in fish and fish feed. Anal. BioanaL Chem., 405, 7803-7815. 

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