Survey of lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic in seafood purchased in Campania, Italy

Overview

Cirillo and colleagues measured lead, cadmium, total mercury, and total arsenic in fresh catch, aquaculture, and frozen seafood purchased in Campania, Italy. The study covered marine fish, cephalopods, and mussels, and reported prevalence, mean, median, and range values on a wet-weight basis. Mercury and arsenic are reported as total mercury (Hg) and total arsenic (As); methylmercury and inorganic arsenic were not analytically speciated.

Key numbers

The study analyzed 162 specimens of fish and cephalopods plus 30 pools of mussels. LODs on a wet-weight basis were lead (Pb) 20 ng/g, cadmium (Cd) 0.8 ng/g, Hg 5 ng/g, and As 10 ng/g. All mean results are upper-value estimates that assume metals not detected as present at the detection limit.

Tables 1-4 report group-level concentrations in ng/g ww:

The paper reports that Cd and Hg concentrations were below EU limits in all species, while Pb exceeded the EU limit in four seabass specimens: two cultured and two frozen.

Table 5 estimates weekly dietary intake from seafood, using annual Italian fish consumption of 22 kg, weekly mean seafood consumption of 0.423 kg per person, and body weight of 70 kg:

The authors also discuss a methylmercury estimate by applying a 0.90 factor to total Hg, but methylmercury was not directly measured in the seafood samples.

Methods (brief)

From January to May 2007, seafood was randomly purchased in local fish markets, supermarkets, and grocery stores from the main cities of Campania. Edible muscle or soft tissue was homogenized; mussel soft tissues were pooled. Samples were digested with ultrapure concentrated HNO3 and H2O2, dried, incinerated at 450 °C for 2 h, dissolved in 0.3 M HNO3, filtered, and analyzed by flameless AAS for Pb and Cd and hydride-method AAS for total Hg and As. Dogfish muscle CRM DORM-III was processed with samples; reported recoveries were 97 +- 6% for Pb, 83 +- 7% for Cd, 85 +- 8% for Hg, and 88 +- 5% for As.

Implications

This source provides Italian market seafood occurrence evidence for Pb, Cd, total Hg, and total As in fish, cephalopod, and mussel product forms. It supports seafood and shellfish routing on a wet-weight ng/g ww basis, with fresh, aquaculture, and frozen market categories preserved. Total Hg should remain total Hg unless a later source provides measured methylmercury values, and total As should not be promoted to inorganic As.

Update history

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