DETERMINATION OF PCDD/PCDF AND DL-PCB IN CHICKEN FEED USING GC-MS/MS AND HRGC/HRMS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Abstract

There are persistent environmental contaminants that pose major concerns to food safety. These contaminants include polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl-PCBs). There is a comparison made in this study between the performance of gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) and high-resolution gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC/HRMS) in terms of determining the amounts of PCDD/PCDF and dl-PCB in chicken feed samples. According to the findings, CDD has the highest concentration, which ranges from 4.002 to 10.015pg/g. On the other hand, OCDF shows at substantially lower levels (0.012 - 0.014pg/g), which would imply that dioxins are more prevalent than furans. There is a presence of tetrachlorinated chemicals, such as 2,3,7,8-TCDF and 2,3,7,8-TCDD, at trace levels (less than 0.3pg/g). Additionally, pentachlorinated (PeCDF, PeCDD) and hexachlorinated (HxCDF, HxCDD) congeners have been discovered at low concentrations. In terms of animal feed, the toxic equivalency (TEQ) values that have been determined vary from 0.092 to 0.243pg TEQ/g, which is far lower than the regulation limit set by the EU, which is 0.75pg TEQ/g. According to the findings of this study, GC-MS/MS is capable of producing results that are comparable to those obtained by HRGC/HRMS. This demonstrates that GC-MS/MS has the potential to be a more cost-effective alternative for routine screening. However, HRGC/HRMS continues to be necessary for confirmatory analysis and regulatory compliance.