Novel approaches to determination of PAHs and halogenated POPs in canned fish

A simple method is described for simultaneous isolation of 7 indicator polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 10 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), 22 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), and 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (16 EU PAHs). The sample preparation procedure, including a pressurised liquid extraction (PLE) followed by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) for the selective isolation of the target compounds, was optimised and validated. For the final identification/quantitation of the target PCBs, PBDEs, OCPs, and PAHs, gas chromatography (GC) coupled to a high speed time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF MS) was used. The performance characteristics of the procedure were assessed including the recoveries (86-118% for PCBs, 73-113% for PBDEs, 71-113% for OCPs, and 85-111% for PAHs), repeatabilities (3-12% PCBs, 3-9% PBDEs, 1-11% OCPs and 3-10% PAHs), and limits of quantitation (LOQs - 0.5 µg/kg PCBs, 0.1-0.3 µg/kg PBDEs, 0.1-0.5 µg/kg OCPs, and 0.03-0.1 µg/kg PAHs). Within the follow-up study, this method will be used for the monitoring of contamination of canned fish and sea food products available at the Czech market.