Impact of fish species and processing technology on minor fish oil components Sybille Merkle a , Editha Giese a , Sascha Rohn b , Horst Karl c , Ines Lehmann c , Andreas Wohltmann d , Jan Fritsche a, c, * a Faculty of Life Sciences, Food Science, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Ulmenliet 20, 21033, Hamburg, Germany b University of Hamburg, Hamburg School of Food Science, Grindelallee 117, 20146, Hamburg, Germany c Department of Safety and Quality of Milk and Fish Products, Max Rubner-Institut, Federal Research Institute of Nutrition and Food, Hermann-Weigmann- Str. 1, 24103, Kiel, Germany d LIPROMAR GmbH, Cuxhaven, Neufelder Straße 44, 27472, Cuxhaven, Germany article info Article history: Received 13 July 2016 Received in revised form 24 October 2016 Accepted 1 November 2016 Available online xxx Keywords: Contaminants DHA Dioxins EPA Fish oil refining MCPD ester n-3 PUFA PCB Chemical compounds studied in this article: N-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PubChem CID: 56842239) eicosapentaenoic acid (PubChem CID: 446284) docosahexaenoic acid (PubChem CID: 445580) dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans (PubChem CID: 90112383) polychlorinated biphenyls (PubChem CID: 42128) 2-MCPD (PubChem CID: 10337) 3-MCPD (PubChem CID: 7290) glycidol (PubChem CID: 5460455) abstract Fish and fish oil are an important source of essential dietary components such as polyunsaturated long chain fatty acids like eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid. Refining of crude fish oil is necessary to remove environmental contaminants e.g., dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans, dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls, and non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls for reaching legal limits, ensuring a pleasant taste and for enhancing shelf-life. However, during the deodorization of crude fish oil, process contaminants such as 2- and 3-monochloropropane-diol esters and glycidyl esters may be formed. The aim of the present study was to provide a comprehensive overview on the content of selected environmental and process contaminants in raw and processed fish oils deriving from different fish species. In crude fish oils extracted from farmed fish, the contents of environmental contaminants were well below the legal limits for food grade fish oil. In contrast, fish oils extracted from captured fish did not meet the requirements for human consumption. When applying filtration over active carbon, a reduction in the content of dibenzo-p-dioxins, di- benzofurans and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls was achieved. 2- and 3-monochloropropane-diol ester and glycidyl ester contents were considerably higher in the refined compared to the crude fish oils investigated. Additionally, the comparison of analyzed and labeled contents of polyunsaturated long chain fatty acids showed a satisfying compliance. © 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd. 1. Introduction Fish and fish oils are important foods as they meet many nutritional needs of humans. Epidemiological and experimental evidence has shown that n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA), especially eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5 n-3) and doco- sahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6 n-3), are among the main components * Corresponding author. Department of Safety and Quality of Milk and Fish Products, Max Rubner-Institut, Federal Research Institute of Nutrition and Food, Hermann-Weigmann-Str. 1, 24103, Kiel, Germany. E-mail address: jan.fritsche@mri.bund.de (J. Fritsche). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Food Control journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodcont http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2016.11.003 0956-7135/© 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Food Control xxx (2016) 1e9 Please cite this article in press as: Merkle, S., et al., Impact of fish species and processing technology on minor fish oil components, Food Control (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2016.11.003