Seafood as a link between high production volume chemicals contamination and population health

Identifier:  TDX:4237

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX4237

Authors:  Castro Serrano, Óscar

Abstract:
High production volume chemicals (HPVs) are produced or manufactured in more than 1,000 tonnes per year in the European Economic Area. Synthetic musk fragrances, phthalate esters, organophosphate esters, benzothiazoles, benzotriazoles and benzenesulfonamides are just some of the compound families labeled as HPVs. Their extended use in both industrial and consumer products has led to a widespread ubiquity of these compounds, reaching the aquatic environment and in consequence, the organisms inhabiting. HPVs bioaccumulation in seafood has become a matter of concern due to its possible dietary intake via seafood consumption. The negative health effects associated to these compounds have awakened the necessity of monitoring their presence in these specimens. To do so, reliable and sensitive analytical methods are needed. The present Doctoral Thesis focuses on the development and application of analytical methodologies for the determination of various HPV families in seafood samples using novel extraction procedures and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Thus, methods involving novel extraction techniques or greener, easier and faster alternatives to previously described methodologies have been developed on this purpose. The methods have been applied to several seafood samples including the most consumed species of Catalonia and the Canary Islands, to provide useful data on the occurrence of HPVs in seafood of common consumption. Exposure and risk assessments have been performed to elucidate the possible risk associated to the consumption of seafood. Moreover, a preliminary study on the bioaccessibility of relevant HPVs in raw and cooked fish has been performed.