Overview
Embaby and colleagues measured lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury by ICP-OES in 96 raw sardine and shrimp samples from fish markets in four Mediterranean governorates of Egypt over four seasons from 2019 to 2021. Lead and cadmium were higher in winter, Kafr El-Sheikh had the highest lead and cadmium, and mercury was not detected. These are fresh market seafood, not canned products, so the paper is a proxy for tinned-fish.
Key numbers
- Lead, sardine: below detection (Port Said, summer 2020) to 0.611 ± 0.015 mg/kg (Kafr El-Sheikh, winter 2019) (Table 2, p. 4).
- Cadmium, sardine: below detection to 0.377 ± 0.017 mg/kg (Kafr El-Sheikh, winter 2019) (Table 3, p. 4).
- Total arsenic, shrimp: 0.074 to 0.965 ± 0.016 mg/kg (Alexandria, winter 2019) (Table 4, p. 4).
- Mercury: not detected in any sample (Section 3.1.4, p. 4).
Methods (brief)
Half-gram portions were microwave-digested in nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide and analyzed by ICP-OES. Spike recoveries were 97 to 99%. Detection limits are given in the digest solution (lead 0.0077, cadmium 0.002, arsenic 0.001, mercury 0.002 mg/L). No certified reference material is named, and the weight basis is not stated.
Evidence Fitness
A multi-site, multi-season design with dates and recoveries. The text’s arsenic exceedance percentages (40% of sardine and 79% of shrimp above 2 mg/kg) cannot be reconciled with the tabulated means, all below 1 mg/kg. Fresh fish and shrimp are a proxy for tinned-fish and do not link that page.