EN
Among persistent organic pollutants that occur in the environment and in food, a significant group is represented by the residues of highly toxic chlorinated pesticides, used for decades mainly in plant protection. As some of the compounds have half-lives measured in years, or even decades, they can accumulate in water and bottom sediments. In consequence, they can penetrate into aquatic organisms and pose health risk to consumers of seafood products. The research aimed at estimating the effect of frying on concentrations of selected organochlorine pesticides (α-HCH, β-HCH, γ-HCH, heptachlor, aldrin, heptachlor epoxide isomer B, pp’-DDE, endrin, pp’-DDT) in the meat of fish species most commonly consumed in Poland. Analyses were conducted by gas chromatography method with GC/MS HP 6890 (5973) apparatus. The study revealed that the dominant compound in the raw fish meat was pp’-DDE, with an average concentration of 3.55 μg/kg wet weight; the highest levels being found in flounder (7.33 μg/kg w.w.), and the lowest in cod (0.58 μg/kg w.w.). The less abundant compound was heptachlor epoxide isomer B. Frying caused significant (p<0.05) losses in concentrations of most organochlorine pesticides examined. The biggest loss was observed for βHCH in carp – 74.05%. Mean losses of the examined compounds ranged from 9.6% for heptachlor epoxide isomer B to 32.3% for β-HCH. The levels of pesticides detected in the raw fish were low, and did not exceed the maximum permitted levels. Frying still reduced the content of persistent organochlorine pesticides in fish meat, improving the quality of the food product.