Assessment of Human Health Risk of Metal(Loid) Content in Brazilian Sardine Along the Southwestern Atlantic

Overview

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 cadmium (Cd) and lead (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. mercury (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 arsenic (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 methylmercury (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 65% HNO3 in a CEM Mars Xpress microwave system, and analyzed by ICP-OES (Varian 720 ES) for metals except mercury; mercury was digested with HNO3/HCl and analyzed with a CETAC Quick Trace M-7500 Hg Analyzer. DORM-4 certified reference material was used for method validation. The source reports LOQ values (µg/g) of 0.42 for aluminum (Al) and Fe; 0.18 for Mn, Ba, Zn; 0.24 for chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), Pb, Cu; 0.06 for Cd and Sr; 0.23 for Hg. Cd and Pb were below LOQ in most samples and the authors excluded both from quantitative analysis.

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