Heavy metals in commercial fish and seafood products and risk assessment in adult population in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Overview

Djedjibegovic and colleagues measured cadmium, mercury, and lead in 37 commercial fish and seafood samples sold at retail in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The study reports wet-weight concentrations for frozen fish, canned tuna, canned mackerel, squid, mussel, shrimp, and prawn products, then models adult exposure by age and socioeconomic group. Mercury is reported as total/unspecified Hg; the paper does not measure methylmercury separately.

Key numbers

Table 1 reports metal concentrations and EU maximum residue levels as mg kg−1 wet weight:

The discussion states that mercury and cadmium were detected in all analyzed samples (100%), while lead was detected in 33 samples (89.2%). It reports one mercury result above the maximum residue level in Atlantic mackerel: 0.624 mg kg−1. For Patagonian squid, cadmium was close to the corresponding MRL in two samples, 0.918 and 0.896 mg kg−1, and the other three squid samples were 0.591, 0.425, and 0.391 mg kg−1.

Table 2 reports estimated weekly intake based on geometric mean concentrations as μg kg−1 b.w.. Across age groups, cadmium (Cd) ranged from 0.106 to 0.389, mercury (Hg) from 0.075 to 0.277, and lead (Pb) from 0.029 to 0.108. Across socioeconomic groups, Cd ranged from 0.166 to 0.274, Hg from 0.119 to 0.196, and Pb from 0.046 to 0.076.

Table 2 also reports percent-of-guidance metrics. Across age groups, Cd was 4.23-15.6% TWI, Hg was 5.80-21.3% TWI, Pb was 1.96-7.20% of BMDL01, and Pb was 4.67-17.1% of BMDL10. Across socioeconomic groups, Cd was 6.65-11.0% TWI, Hg was 9.12-15.0% TWI, Pb was 3.08-5.08% of BMDL01, and Pb was 7.33-12.1% of BMDL10.

The risk-assessment section gives geometric mean concentrations across all samples as Cd 0.108 mg kg−1, Hg 0.077 mg kg−1, and Pb 0.030 mg kg−1. It gives maximum concentrations as Cd 0.918 mg kg−1, Hg 0.624 mg kg−1, and Pb 0.278 mg kg−1. Figure 2 text states that geometric-mean total HI values were below 1 in all consumer groups, with highest values for adults older than 61 years (HI = 0.61), adults 18-40 years (HI = 0.31), low socioeconomic status (HI = 0.43), and high socioeconomic status (HI = 0.33).

Table 3 reports analytical method parameters: Cd certified/found concentrations 0.336/0.30 mg/kg, %RSD 0.15, LoQ 0.002 mg/kg, recovery 89.3%; Hg certified/found 0.071/0.072 mg/kg, %RSD 0.03, LoQ 0.02 mg/kg, recovery 101%; Pb certified/found 2.18/1.788 mg/kg, %RSD 0.09, LoQ 0.01 mg/kg, recovery 82.0%.

Methods (brief)

The authors purchased 37 retail fish and seafood samples in Bosnia and Herzegovina in June 2019, using commercial products that were widely available and consumed locally. Edible portions were homogenized, microwave digested with nitric acid, and analyzed in duplicate in an accredited food-analysis laboratory. Cd and Pb were measured by GFAAS after EN 14084:2003 methods; Hg was measured by FIAS cold-vapor AAS. The paper reports total/unspecified Hg only; it uses a methylmercury reference dose in the risk model because fish and seafood mercury is described as mostly methylated, but it does not report measured methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations.

Implications

This source provides primary Bosnia and Herzegovina retail-market occurrence evidence for total Hg, Cd, and Pb in commercial seafood. It can route to broad seafood, canned fish, fresh marine fish, predatory tuna, non-predatory marine fish, and shellfish rows, with row-fit caution because squid and prawn have no narrower closed product slugs in the current taxonomy. Downstream extraction must keep the measured total/unspecified Hg values separate from methylmercury.

Update history

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