Development of a multiresidue method for the determination of endocrine disrupters in fish fillet using gas chromatography–triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry

Endocrine Disrupter Compounds (EDCs) are responsible for alterations in the endocrine system functions. Aquatic organisms are able to accumulate EDCs residues, being the major source of contamination for top predators and human consumers. This study aimed to develop and validate a method for the determination of 40 EDCs in fish fillet using modified QuEChERS and Gas Chromatography coupled with Mass Spectrometry in tandem (GC–MS/MS). A factorial design was used to optimize the extraction procedure. Method validation presented recoveries from 70.1% to 120.0% with RSD<20% and method limit of detection ranged from 0.3 to 7.5 µg kg−1, showing good accuracy and precision. This method was successfully applied to the analysis of fish fillet from different species and residues of bisphenol A, chlorpyrifos and bifenthrin were detected. The proposed method proved to be effective for the determination of EDCs in fish fillet at very low concentration levels.