Mineral oil contamination concerns potentially any food due to the wide number of applications of these petroleum derivatives.1 Despite its important role in Mediterranean diet and its high nutritional value, fish is a food matrix which has been little investigated from this point of view.2 Thus, our study was aimed at developing a research in this field. Alkanes (branched, cyclic and linear), being the main constituents of mineral oils, were quantified in the tissue and organs of several fish species from Adriatic Sea (anchovies, red mullets, mackerels, sardines, flathead mullets). After saponification of the hexane extract, alkanes fraction has been isolated from insaponifiable matter by SPE3 and then analyzed by GC-FID. Organs contained much higher values of contamination with respect to muscular tissues which resulted in most of the cases containing undetectable amount of mineral oil (lower than 2 mg kg-1. Among the 5 samples of organs analyzed, 2 contained significant levels of mineral oil: 66 mg kg-1 in red mullet extract and 37 mg kg-1 in flathead mullet extract. Contaminating mineral oils were medium and low viscosity oils.4 Thus, since the contamination regards only the nonedible portion, the results are not alarming from the food safety point of view, even if they evidence a certain level of environmental pollution from petroleum derivatives.
EVALUATION OF MINERAL OIL CONTAMINATION IN FISH SPECIES FROM ADRIATIC SEA
FIORINI, Dennis;GIGLI, Flavia;BALLINI, Roberto
2011-01-01
Abstract
Mineral oil contamination concerns potentially any food due to the wide number of applications of these petroleum derivatives.1 Despite its important role in Mediterranean diet and its high nutritional value, fish is a food matrix which has been little investigated from this point of view.2 Thus, our study was aimed at developing a research in this field. Alkanes (branched, cyclic and linear), being the main constituents of mineral oils, were quantified in the tissue and organs of several fish species from Adriatic Sea (anchovies, red mullets, mackerels, sardines, flathead mullets). After saponification of the hexane extract, alkanes fraction has been isolated from insaponifiable matter by SPE3 and then analyzed by GC-FID. Organs contained much higher values of contamination with respect to muscular tissues which resulted in most of the cases containing undetectable amount of mineral oil (lower than 2 mg kg-1. Among the 5 samples of organs analyzed, 2 contained significant levels of mineral oil: 66 mg kg-1 in red mullet extract and 37 mg kg-1 in flathead mullet extract. Contaminating mineral oils were medium and low viscosity oils.4 Thus, since the contamination regards only the nonedible portion, the results are not alarming from the food safety point of view, even if they evidence a certain level of environmental pollution from petroleum derivatives.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
