Bauer et al. 2023 - Metals in Brazilian sardine

Bauer and colleagues measured metal and metalloid concentrations in edible muscle tissue of Brazilian sardine from northern and southern sectors of the Southwestern Atlantic Continental Shelf. Total arsenic and total mercury are reported separately from the risk-assessment assumptions used later in the paper. Most Cd and Pb results were below the source’s LOQ, so the authors excluded Cd and Pb from the concentration/risk analysis.

Key numbers

Table 2 reports mean +/- standard deviation with ranges in parentheses. Hg is reported in ng/g ww; all other table values are reported in µg/g ww.

The results text states that 100% of southern-sector samples and 75% of northern-sector samples exceeded the source-cited total-As acceptable limit. Chromium exceeded the cited reference level in 6% of southern-sector samples and 21% of northern-sector samples. The paper also states that Fe exceeded a cited edible-fish safety standard in 31% of southern-sector samples and 60% of northern-sector samples.

Table 3 reports dietary exposure and hazard quotients:

For As risk only, the authors assumed 3% of total As was inorganic As; the measured concentration table itself reports total As. For Hg risk, Table 3 uses a MeHg reference value, but Table 2 reports total Hg concentration.

Methods (brief)

Fish from the northern sector were acquired from commercial fish landings off Niteroi, Arraial do Cabo, and Macae in April-May 2018. Fish from the southern sector were obtained from a commercial fishing vessel off Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul. Dorsal muscle was freeze-dried, digested in nitric acid, and analyzed by ICP-OES for metals except mercury; mercury was digested with nitric acid/hydrochloric acid and analyzed with a CETAC Quick Trace M-7500 Hg Analyzer. DORM-4 certified reference material was used for method validation.

Implications

This source contributes Brazilian marine non-predatory fish occurrence data for total As, total Hg, Cr, Al, Ni, and other trace elements in edible sardine muscle. It is important for HMTc routing because the source reports total As and total Hg, not inorganic As or methylmercury measurements. Cd and Pb should remain below-LOQ context unless a later structured extraction records censoring explicitly.

Verification notes

• PDF text extracted with pdftotext -layout; title page, methods, Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, discussion, and conclusions were readable.
• DOI 10.1007/s00128-023-03723-7, raw handle MFK_assessment-of-human-health-risk-of-metal-loid-con, and cite-key checks found no existing source page before creation.
• Table 2 concentration values and Table 3 risk values were checked against the extracted text. Units are preserved as reported: Hg in ng/g ww; other concentration values in µg/g ww; no conversion was performed.
• Speciation: arsenic is total As and mercury is total Hg. The paper uses a 3% inorganic-As assumption and a MeHg reference value for risk assessment, but it does not measure iAs or MeHg.
• Cd and Pb were mostly below LOQ and excluded by the authors; this page does not invent Cd or Pb concentration rows.
• Brand firewall: samples came from commercial landings/vessels and regional sectors, not branded seafood products.
• Frontmatter product and ingredient slugs were checked against docs/gpt-collaboration/taxonomy-snapshot.md; no new slug was invented.

Page history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page. The full version history lives in git; when DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.