Development and validation of a GF-AAS method and its application for the trace level determination of Pb, Cd, and Cr in fish feed samples commonly used in the hatcheries of Bangladesh

A sensitive, accurate and precise method was developed and validated in regard to Council Directive 333/2007/EC, Commission Decision 657/2002/EC, ISO/IEC 17025:2005 and EURACHEM 1998 for the trace level determination of Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd) and Chromium (Cr) in fish feed samples using Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (GF-AAS). For method validation, selectivity, working and linear ranges, limit of detection (LoD), limit of quantification (LoQ), trueness (recovery) and precision (repeatability and reproducibility) have been assessed as performance criteria. The method LoDs for Pb, Cd and Cr were found to be 0.078, 0.010 and 0.022 μg/g respectively, whereas, the method LoQs were obtained at 0.156, 0.021 and 0.044 μg/g respectively. Moreover, the recovery of the analytes was 90 – 104% and the RSD values for precision were 4.90 – 9.60% respectively. The method validation performance criteria indicate the method’s suitability for trace level quantification of Pb, Cd, and Cr in fish feed samples.