Determination of preservative and antimicrobial compounds in fish from Manila Bay, Philippines using ultra high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, and assessment of human dietary exposure

Ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) determination of four paraben preservatives (methyl, ethyl, propyl and butyl) and two antimicrobial agents (triclosan and triclocarban) belonging to personal care products (PCPs) in 20 species of fish from Manila Bay (Philippines) was performed. Detection of PCPs with greater frequency indicates the ubiquitous contamination of Manila Bay. Concentrations of total paraben were one order of magnitude higher than the antimicrobials in almost all fish, except in Stolephorus indicus and Leiognathus equulus. A positive correlation was observed between parabens concentration and fish length (r =0.31-0.49; p <0.05 to <0.001) and fish weight (r = 0.28-0.49; p< 0.05 to <0.001), but not for the antimicrobials. The estimated dietary exposure values of the four parabens in the Philippines through fish is four orders of magnitude lower than the acceptable daily intake (AD!) of 10 mg/kg/day, but the values of antimicrobials are just half of the ADI of TCS. To our knowledge, this is the first report of PCPs contamination in fish from Philippines. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.