Detection of Organochlorine Pesticides Residues in Nile Fish and Its Risks in Qena City

Abstract

Fifteen organochlorine pesticides (OCP) residues were determined in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) and Long fin catfish (Chrysichthys auratus) in Qena city, Egypt by gas mass chromatography. Nile tilapia fish significantly (P < 0.05) had the highest concentrations of Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), endrin, methoxychlor, Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane (DDD) and endosulfan sulfate with mean±SD concentration of 6.27±0.68, 25.02±0.01, 6.98±1.88, 33.35±1.76 and 47.82±12.51 ppb respectively. Long fin catfish significantly had the highest concentrations of D-chlordane, alpha hexachlorobenzene (a-BHC) and aldrin with mean±SD concentration of 82.27±0.45, 11.89±0.56, 11.73±0.48 ppb respectively. Finally African catfish significantly had the highest concentration of dieldrin with mean concentration 3.53±0.03 ppb and had significant lowest concentration of endrin 1.99±1.39 ppb. OCP residues in all examined raw fish samples were below the maximum permissible limits (MPL) set by Food and Drug Administration. The effect of pan frying on OCP residues showed that the highest reduction rate in OCP in Nile tilapia was 100% for dieldrin and endosulfan sulfate while reduction rate in African catfish was 100% for dieldrin, methoxychlor and endosulfan sulfate. On the other hand the reduction rate in Long fin catfish was 100% for dieldrin, endrin, methoxychlor, heptachlor epoxide and endosulfan sulfate. The lowest reduction rate was detected in DDD, DDE, b-BHC, heptachlor and DDT respectively. Consumption of studied fish had no potential hazard to human health as hazard ratio was below one. Carcinogenic risk (CR) value considered acceptable risk for b-BHC and considered level of concern for heptachlor epoxide, total DDTs, lindane and total heptachlor.