POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS (PCBS) IN FISH OIL DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS BY GPC AUTOMATED CLEAN-UP METHOD

Due to the presence of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), fish and derived products are important nutritional components of human diet. These PUFA, specifically eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), are essential in human diet as they cannot be synthesized by vertebrates. To counteract low consumption of fish many people use dietary supplements containing fish oils. However, despite these health benefits, consumers have to ensure that the fish oil that they consume does not contain contaminants. Many studies suggest that there are concerns that some fish oil supplements may contain PCBs. In this paper we apply a new automated clean-up system based on gel permeation chromatography (AccuPrep MPSTM, J2 Scientific) combined with an in-line concentration system (AccuVapTM, J2 Scientific) to provide quick, cheap, and reliable results on the presence of those compounds in the fish oil supplements. The recoveries of the automated clean-up are good thought lower than the manual clean-up but still the system is more repeatable.