Heavy metals in Fish sauce

This category's evidence review is in progress. Available source records have not yet been synthesized into a typical concentration summary.

Literature scope

Reported measurements from source notes are below. Sections that are still empty have not been synthesized into a population estimate. HMTc certification thresholds for products in this row continue to be developed under the certification program at heavymetalcertified.com, not on this public page.

Reported measurements

Diviš and colleagues measured total mercury in undiluted fish sauce, n=10. The note states a range of 0.8 to 42.8 µg/kg and a mean of 11.4 µg/kg used for intake. Table 2 prints 43 µg/kg for one sample (FS10). This page repeats both and does not choose one. Two Thailand samples were below the direct thermal-decomposition limit of detection and were quantified only after diffusive-gradients preconcentration. Differences between the two methods were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The EU 500 µg/kg fish-product maximum is the authors’ comparator. Determination of Mercury in Fish Sauces by Thermal Decomposition Gold Amalgamation Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy after Preconcentration by Diffusive Gradients in Thin Films Technique

Rodriguez and colleagues measured total arsenic in six undiluted fish sauces, from 0.69 ± 0.03 to 2.75 ± 0.03 mg/L (range 0.69 to 2.75 mg/L). Flow-injection totals and the sums of HPLC species agreed within the reported uncertainty. Arsenobetaine was 82 to 94 percent of total arsenic. Arsenite, arsenate, methylarsonic acid, and dimethylarsinic acid were all below 0.01 mg/L, the limit of detection. Total arsenic is not reported here as inorganic arsenic. Arsenic speciation in fish sauce samples determined by HPLC coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Abdullah, an undergraduate thesis with no DOI assigned in this corpus, measured three coded fish-sauce samples. The methods chapter is missing from the copy under review. The abstract, in mg/kg, does not specify the basis. Sample A: lead 3.94, cadmium 36.57, zinc 54.93, aluminum 4.10. Sample B: lead 2.58, cadmium 27.46, zinc 52.63, aluminum 5.66. Sample C: lead and cadmium are not stated, zinc 13.18, aluminum 36.39. The abstract says all three samples exceeded the Malaysian Food Regulation 1985 cadmium permitted level of 1 mg/kg. The note calculates sample A at about 37 times that level and sample B at about 27 times that level. Sample C cadmium is not stated. This page repeats both statements and does not choose one. The note flags a data-integrity concern because the methods chapter is missing. Brand names are not used. Determination of Heavy Metals in Selected Fish Sauce

Fish sauce fermentation and gut studies of other exposures

Fish sauce is a fermented condiment. Its microbes are a product question. The gut studies below are biomarkers, larval zebrafish, rat cadmium, a mercury review, maternal hair, and experimental zinc diets. They did not dose fish sauce, and they do not describe the moromi.

Sitarik et al. 2020 measured tooth lead and stool microbiota at 1 month and 6 months in 146 maternal-child pairs in the Detroit-area WHEALS cohort. In utero tooth lead was associated with fungal community composition at 1 month. Lead was not associated with overall bacterial community structure. Taxon-level bacterial shifts were higher Collinsella at 1 month, higher Bilophila at 6 months, and lower Bacteroides. The direction is lead exposure toward microbiota composition. Tooth lead is a biomarker, not a concentration in this product.

Eggers et al. 2023, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1193919, followed 123 children in the Mexico City PROGRESS cohort. Maternal blood lead means were 33.6 µg/L in the second trimester and 34.9 µg/L in the third. Stool metagenomes at ages 9 to 11 showed lower Bacteroides caccae with lead exposure. Weighted quantile sum regression gave a negative overall mixture effect (beta = -0.17) in both trimesters. The direction is prenatal lead toward the childhood gut microbiota. The summary does not support a lead concentration in food.

Liu et al. 2023, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.3389/fvets.2023.1219729, exposed Sprague-Dawley rats to cadmium chloride for 30 days. The note states lower intestinal ZO-1, higher TNF-alpha and IL-6 in intestine and blood, and Muribaculaceae in blood that was absent in the unexposed group. The note does not print the dose or the number of rats. The direction is cadmium toward gut and blood microbiota and barrier markers.

Hoen et al. 2018 related urinary total arsenic at 6 weeks to stool microbiota in 204 infants in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study. Urinary total arsenic had median 0.4 µg/L and mean 0.63 µg/L. Feeding-stratified means were 0.5 µg/L in exclusively breastfed infants, 0.9 µg/L in mixed-fed infants, and 1.2 µg/L in formula-only infants. Overall composition was marginally associated with natural-log urinary arsenic after adjustment for feeding and urine specific gravity (pseudo-F 1.85, p = 0.05). The clearest association was in formula-fed males (n = 33, pseudo-F 2.30, p = 0.008). Formula-fed females (n = 23) did not show that association. The direction is an early-life arsenic biomarker toward infant gut microbiota. Urinary arsenic is not a concentration in this product.

Dahan et al. 2018, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2018.01323, exposed larval zebrafish to 10, 50, and 100 ppb arsenic in water for 20 days. Arsenic exposure explained 54.7 percent of the variance in overall bacterial composition. The class 1 integron relative copy number at the highest concentration was 9 times the control value. The note does not state whether the dissolved arsenic was inorganic or total, and it does not give the number of larvae. The direction is arsenic in water toward the larval microbiome. The model is not a human gut, and the summary does not support an arsenic concentration in food.

Giambo et al. 2021, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.3892/wasj.2021.90, screened 600 articles and included 97. For mercury, the note states that methylation and demethylation are a core process in methylmercury metabolism and that microbiota changes have been linked to neurodevelopmental effects in rat offspring. The note does not assign a new sample size to that mercury summary. The direction summarized is microbiota toward methylmercury metabolism, and exposure toward microbiota in the offspring studies. The review does not test this product.

Xiong et al. 2025, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-60508-8, followed 146 mother-infant pairs, with maternal hair trace elements measured in 119 mothers. Shannon diversity of the infant gut at 3 months correlated positively with selenium and negatively with copper. Bifidobacterium relative abundance increased under high aluminum and high manganese together, so the note does not separate aluminum from manganese. The note states that high copper and arsenic may enrich antibiotic resistance genes. Hair concentrations are not printed. The direction is prenatal trace-element biomarkers toward the infant gut. Hair is not a food sample.

Chen et al. 2021, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.1128/Spectrum.00483-21, fed C57BL/6 mice diets with 0, 30, 150, or 600 mg/kg zinc for 4 weeks and for 8 weeks. A 4-week diet with no added zinc increased Proteobacteria and Desulfovibrio. An 8-week diet with 150 mg/kg zinc suppressed total short-chain fatty acids, butyric acid, acetic acid, and short-chain-fatty-acid-producing genera. A 600 mg/kg diet decreased Shannon diversity. The mouse count is not in the note. The direction is dietary zinc status toward cecal microbiota. The diets are experimental, not this product.

Study table

What remains uncertain

No study cited here fed fish sauce. The mercury review does not speciate sauce mercury. Dahan and colleagues did not name the arsenic species. Hair aluminum is not separated from manganese. Zinc diets are experimental. Liu and colleagues do not print the cadmium dose.

References

Works cited in this page’s text, in first-appearance order. See Sources for this page’s source inventory. Each title links to a source record with bibliographic details, reported findings, and document provenance.

1. Determination of Mercury in Fish Sauces by Thermal Decomposition Gold Amalgamation Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy after Preconcentration by Diffusive Gradients in Thin Films TechniqueDiviš P, Reichstädter M, Gao Y, Leermakers M, and Křikala J · Foods · 2020 · doi.org/10.3390/foods9121858Peer-reviewed
2. Arsenic speciation in fish sauce samples determined by HPLC coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometryRodriguez, Irene B., Raber, Georg, and Goessler, Walter · Food Chemistry · 2009 · doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2008.06.054Peer-reviewed
3. Determination of Heavy Metals in Selected Fish SauceAbdullah, Intan Safinaz Bt · B.Sc. (Hons.) Chemistry final-year project, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia · 2009Thesis
4. Fetal and early postnatal lead exposure measured in teeth associates with infant gut microbiotaSitarik AR, Arora M, Austin C, Bielak LF, Eggers S, Johnson CC, et al. · Environment International · 2020 · doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.106062Peer-reviewed
5. Prenatal lead exposure is negatively associated with the gut microbiome in childhoodEggers S, Midya V, Bixby M, Gennings C, Torres-Olascoaga LA, Walker RW, et al. · Frontiers in Microbiology · 2023 · doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1193919Peer-reviewed
6. Environmental cadmium exposure alters the internal microbiota and metabolome of Sprague-Dawley ratsLiu S, Deng X, Li Z, Zhou W, Wang G, Zhan J, et al. · Frontiers in Veterinary Science · 2023 · doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2023.1219729Peer-reviewed
7. Sex-specific associations of infants’ gut microbiome with arsenic exposureAnne G. Hoen, Juliette C. Madan, Zhigang Li, Modupe Coker, Sara N. Lundgren, Hilary G. Morrison, et al. · Scientific Reports · 2018 · doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30581-9Peer-reviewed
8. Exposure to arsenic alters the microbiome of larval zebrafishDahan D, Jude BA, Lamendella R, Keesing F, and Perron GG · Frontiers in Microbiology · 2018 · doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01323Peer-reviewed
9. Influence of toxic metal exposure on the gut microbiotaGiambo F, Italia S, Teodoro M, Briguglio G, Furnari N, Catanoso R, et al. · World Academy of Sciences Journal · 2021 · doi.org/10.3892/wasj.2021.90Peer-reviewed
10. Prenatal exposure to trace elements impacts mother-infant gut microbiome, metabolome and resistome during the first year of lifeXiong S, Xie B, Yin N, Zhu H, Gao H, Xu X, et al. · Nature Communications · 2025 · doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60508-8Peer-reviewed
11. Effect of long-term and short-term imbalanced zinc manipulation on gut microbiota and screening for microbial markers sensitive to zinc statusChen L, Wang Z, Wang P, Yu X, Ding H, Wang Z, et al. · Microbiology Spectrum · 2021 · doi.org/10.1128/Spectrum.00483-21Peer-reviewed

Sources

Source records associated with this topic. Inclusion does not establish that every finding applies to this product or ingredient. References above identify works cited in the text.

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