Organochlorine insecticides (DDT and heptachlor) in dry fish: Traditional washing and cooking effect on dietary intake

The concentrations of organochlorine insecticides (DDT and heptachlor) were investigated to estimate the effect of various washing and boiling/cooking to elucidate the concentration level we intake actually. For this study five most popular dry fish samples namely bombay duck (loittya), ribbon fish (chhuri), shrimp (chingri), chinese pomfret (rupchanda) and Indian salmon (lakhua) were analyzed. The highest concentrations of DDT and heptachlor were found 737.238 ppb (Indian salmon, normal) and 44.806 ppb (shrimp, normal) respectively; after boiling treatment a big amount was washed out and remained only 135.516 ppb and 16.868 ppb respectively. Boiling treatment was found more effective than the others.