Evaluation of the performance of a total workflow approach for the analysis of perand polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in fish, using an interlaboratory study

Due to rising concerns about the long-term impacts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on human health, many agencies across the globe have been studying the occurrence of PFAS in food. Waters™ previously developed a method for the determination of PFAS in complex food commodities such as fish, meat, edible offal, and eggs which requires a comprehensive sample extraction and clean-up. This application brief shows the successful evaluation of the performance of this method by interlaboratory study. It is based upon an alkaline extraction, sample clean-up using Oasis™ WAX for PFAS Analysis SPE cartridge and determination using ACQUITY™ UPLC™ System fitted with the PFAS Analysis Kit, Isolator Column and Xevo™ TQ-XS Tandem Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer. A reference material of fish containing PFHxS, PFOS, PFOA, and PFNA was sent to seven Waters laboratories, along with standard solutions containing native PFAS compounds and isotopically labelled analogues. For the four PFAS analytes, trueness of the method was determined to be within the range of 102 to 121%. Repeatability within laboratories was <20% and between laboratory reproducibility ≤30%.