Supervisors info:
Θωμαΐδης Νικόλαος, Καθηγητής Τμήμα Χημείας, ΕΚΠΑ, (Επιβλέπων)
Οικονόμου Αναστάσιος Καθηγητής Τμήμα Χημείας, ΕΚΠΑ,
Γκίκας Ευάγγελος Καθηγητής Τμήμα Χημείας, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
The aim of this master thesis is to implement the development of a method for the metal determination in fish and fish feed with the technique of Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), as well as to validate the current method through the evaluation of its performance characteristics.
Food, specifically fish and fish feed that were studied in this thesis, is one of the most important sources of organisms’ exposure to metals. Some of these metals are nutritious and can provide an abundance of benefits for the functions of the human body, however some of them, the so called “heavy metals”, it has been observed that they tend to cause bioaccumulation and toxicity. For this reason, the metal determination in food is especially significant. For this determination, Microwave Assisted Extraction (MAE) was selected as a pre-processing technique, among a variety of other techniques and ICP-MS was used as a determination instrument, due to its innovation, low detection limits and fast analysis. After the development of this method, it was validated through the evaluation of its performance characteristics (linearity, working range, trueness, precision, repeatability, detection limits, quantification limits). By evaluating the above characteristics it was managed to deduce that this method is fit for the intended purpose.
Keywords:
food, metals, determination, validation, ICP-MS, performance characteristics
