Validation of QuEChERS for screening of 4 marker polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in fish and malt

Abstract

Application of QuEChERS as a new quick and easy method for screening of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was developed, validated and used for quantification (GC-QTOF-MS) of 4 PAHs, namely benz[a]anthracene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene and benzo[a]pyrene. A clean-up step using Zirconium based dispersive SPE was applied. Validation based on spiked samples (0.5, 1 and 4 µg/kg) revealed a limit of quantification (LOQ) for the 4 PAH compounds in the range of 0.14-0.24 μg/kg for fish and 0.12-0.24 μg/kg for raw barley. Overall recoveries ranged from 88 to 117% with repeatability and in-house reproducibility from 2.6 to 16%. The method was applied to 9 malt samples which were found to contain the sum of 4 PAH from <0.36 µg/kg for raw barley to 26 µg/kg for peat smoked barley. For 5 smoked fish samples the sum of PAH4 ranged from <0.34 µg/kg for cold smoked salmon to 2.2 µg/kg for hot smoked mackerel. In general it was found that the method could be used as a fast screening for evaluation of smoked fish according to EU Commission maximum concentrations of benzo[a]pyrene (2.0 µg/kg) and the sum of PAH4 (10 µg/kg).

Detection of Nitrated, Oxygenated and Hydrogenated Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds in Smoked Fish and Meat Products

“…In this study, PAHs derivatives were included by optimizing the previous sample preparation method for the extraction of PAHs from fish [ 50 ] and the quantification of PAHs by GC-QTOFMS [ 54 ]. The original protocols differed from the procedure described here for the evaporation conditions and GC-QTOFMS parameters.…”

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Foods: Biological Effects, Legislation, Occurrence, Analytical Methods, and Strategies to Reduce Their Formation

“…Regarding quantification, PAHs can be quantified using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (single quadrupole, triple quadrupole, and quadrupole time-offlight) [15,50,56,61,63,114,120,131,132,[139][140][141][142]. Albeit not as common as other methods, gas chromatography with flame ionization detector may also be used [104].…”

Effect of Traditional Stir-Frying on the Characteristics and Quality of Mutton Sao Zi

“…A QuEChERS method based on Duedahl-Olesen et al ( 26 ); Huang et al ( 27 ) was used for the determination of PAHs from stir-frying mutton sao zi and with minor modifications. Initially, 2 g of homogenized sample (accurate to 0.01 g) was mixed in a 50-mL stoppered glass centrifuge tube, 1 g diatomite (alkaline) and 10 mL of n-hexane were added, vortex-shaken for 40 s, and then kept in an ultrasonic water bath at 40°C for 30 min.…”