This European Standard specifies a gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric method for the determination
of organochlorine pesticides (OC's) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in animal feeding stuffs and oil.
The method is applicable to animal feeding stuffs with a water content up to about 20 wt% and oil/fatty
samples containing residues of one or more of the following OC's and PCBs and some of their isomers and
degradation products:
-- Aldrin;
-- Dieldrin;
-- Chlordane (= sum of Chlordane isomers and Oxychlordane);
-- DDT (= sum of isomers op'-DDT, pp'-DDT, pp'-TDE (pp'-DDD), and pp'-DDE);
-- Endosulfan (sum of α/β-isomers and Endosulfan-sulphate);
-- Endrin;
-- Heptachlor (= sum of Heptachlor and β-Heptachlorepoxide);
-- Hexachlorobenzene (HCB);
-- Hexachlorocyclohexane isomers (α-HCH (α-BHC), β-HCH (β-BHC), γ-HCH (γ-BHC or lindane);
-- PCB 28, 52, 101,138, 153 and 180 ("Indicator PCBs") and PCB 198,209.
The method is not yet applicable to Chlorocamphene (Toxaphene), a complex mixture of polychlorinated
camphenes. Chlorocamphene has a very distinctive chromatographic profile and is easily recognisable by
GC/ECD. Positive identification of the toxaphene isomers can be performed by negative chemical ionisation
mass spectrometry (NCI-MS), electron impact tandem mass spectrometry (EI-MSxMS) or electron impact
high resolution mass spectrometry (EI-HRMS) [1], which is not within the scope of this method.
The limit of quantification for the mentioned organochlorine pesticides and PCBs is 5 ng/g in general.
However, 10 ng/g applies for Heptachlor Aldrin, Endrin, Dieldrin, and Endosulfan (α-, β- and sulphate).
Individual laboratories are responsible to ensure that the equipment they used will achieve these limits of
quantifications.