Overview
Hwang and colleagues measured lead, cadmium, total arsenic, tin, total mercury, and methylmercury in 480 home meal replacement (HMR) products purchased in Korea. The product panel included ready-to-eat, ready-to-heat, ready-to-cook, and ready-to-prepare foods. Some HMR subgroups included infant and toddler foods, but the paper reports occurrence by fat/liquid matrix phase rather than by infant-formula row, so this page routes only to the broad prepared-meals product row.
The source does not provide brand-level values. The occurrence table is reported at matrix-phase level and is therefore compatible with the brand firewall.
Key numbers
Sample frame:
| Product group | Samples | Source description |
|---|---|---|
| Ready to Eat (RTE) | 100 | Ready-to-eat food, fresh convenience food, other processed seafood products, and infant and toddler food |
| Ready to Heat (RTH) | 200 | Instant cooked foods, sauces, breads, rice cakes, infant and toddler food, and other processed seafood products |
| Ready to Cook (RTC) | 140 | Meat extract processed products, seasoned meat, infant and toddler food, ground processed meat products, and other processed seafood products |
| Ready to Prepare (RTP) | 40 | Meal kit products |
Table 5 reports heavy-metal concentrations in HMR matrix phases. Lead, cadmium, arsenic, and tin are in mg/kg; total mercury and methylmercury are in ug/kg. ND means not detected at the method detection limit.
| Matrix phase | Analyte | Mean | Min | Max | Median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non-fatty solid phase | Pb | 0.013 | 0.002 | 0.089 | 0.015 |
| Non-fatty solid phase | Cd | 0.013 | ND | 0.110 | 0.055 |
| Non-fatty solid phase | As | 0.039 | ND | 0.154 | 0.077 |
| Non-fatty solid phase | Sn | ND | ND | ND | ND |
| Non-fatty solid phase | Hg | 5.533 | ND | 24.667 | 12.333 |
| Non-fatty solid phase | Me-Hg | 3.000 | ND | 48.000 | 24.000 |
| Fatty solid phase | Pb | 0.013 | 0.003 | 0.087 | 0.045 |
| Fatty solid phase | Cd | 0.003 | ND | 0.017 | 0.009 |
| Fatty solid phase | As | 0.009 | ND | 0.051 | 0.025 |
| Fatty solid phase | Sn | ND | ND | ND | ND |
| Fatty solid phase | Hg | 0.760 | ND | 14.250 | 7.125 |
| Fatty solid phase | Me-Hg | ND | ND | ND | ND |
| Non-fatty liquid phase | Pb | 0.010 | 0.001 | 0.044 | 0.023 |
| Non-fatty liquid phase | Cd | 0.007 | ND | 0.117 | 0.059 |
| Non-fatty liquid phase | As | 0.048 | ND | 0.108 | 0.054 |
| Non-fatty liquid phase | Sn | ND | ND | ND | ND |
| Non-fatty liquid phase | Hg | 2.000 | ND | 50.000 | 25.000 |
| Non-fatty liquid phase | Me-Hg | ND | ND | ND | ND |
| Fatty liquid phase | Pb | 0.012 | 0.005 | 0.062 | 0.033 |
| Fatty liquid phase | Cd | 0.004 | ND | 0.017 | 0.008 |
| Fatty liquid phase | As | 0.030 | ND | 0.055 | 0.028 |
| Fatty liquid phase | Sn | ND | ND | ND | ND |
| Fatty liquid phase | Hg | 0.500 | ND | 9.000 | 4.500 |
| Fatty liquid phase | Me-Hg | ND | ND | ND | ND |
The paper also reports:
| Finding | Value |
|---|---|
| Average concentration of six heavy metals across HMR samples | 8.87 ug/kg |
| Mean heavy-metal concentration, non-fatty solid phase | 12.26 ug/kg |
| Mean heavy-metal concentration, fatty solid phase | 4.29 ug/kg |
| Mean heavy-metal concentration, non-fatty liquid phase | 11.17 ug/kg |
| Mean heavy-metal concentration, fatty liquid phase | 7.75 ug/kg |
| Highest reported analyte concentration in Table 5 | As, 0.154 mg/kg in non-fatty solid phase |
Method-validation summary from Tables 1-4:
| Validation measure | Source-reported values |
|---|---|
| Linearity | R2 values above 0.99 in the tested ranges |
| Limits of detection | 0.02-16.00 ug/kg across matrix/analyte combinations |
| Limits of quantification | 0.05-49.00 ug/kg across matrix/analyte combinations |
| Recovery | 80.65-119.87% |
| Accuracy | Intraday 80.49-119.49%; interday 80.33-119.61% |
| Precision | Intraday 0.26-6.00% CV; interday 0.79-14.93% CV |
| Standard uncertainty of recovery | 0.082-0.321% |
| Relative standard uncertainty | 0.084-0.320% |
Table 4 CRM accuracy checks:
| Analyte | CRM | Certified value | Measured value | Accuracy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pb | NIST SRM 2976 (Mussel tissue) | 1.19 mg/kg | 1.12 mg/kg | 94.12% |
| Cd | NIST SRM 2976 (Mussel tissue) | 0.82 mg/kg | 0.80 mg/kg | 97.56% |
| As | NIST SRM 2976 (Mussel tissue) | 13.30 mg/kg | 13.66 mg/kg | 102.71% |
| Sn | KRISS CRM 108-05-005 (Tomato paste) | 221.20 mg/kg | 224.19 mg/kg | 101.35% |
| Hg | NIST CRM 2976 (Mussel tissue) | 61.00 ug/kg | 55.43 ug/kg | 90.87% |
| Me-Hg | NIST CRM 2976 (Mussel tissue) | 28.09 ug/kg | 23.81 ug/kg | 84.76% |
Exposure-assessment values from Table 6 are reported as chronic daily intake (ug/kg/day) for total heavy metals by matrix phase and age group:
| Matrix phase | Age group | Average dietary exposure | 95th percentile dietary exposure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-fatty solid phase | Above 65 | 1.04 x 10^-2 | 3.41 x 10^-2 |
| Non-fatty solid phase | 20-64 | 9.32 x 10^-3 | 3.07 x 10^-2 |
| Non-fatty solid phase | 13-19 | 1.02 x 10^-2 | 3.34 x 10^-2 |
| Non-fatty solid phase | 7-12 | 1.60 x 10^-2 | 5.28 x 10^-2 |
| Non-fatty solid phase | 3-6 | 3.08 x 10^-2 | 1.01 x 10^-1 |
| Non-fatty solid phase | 1-2 | 4.80 x 10^-2 | 1.58 x 10^-1 |
| Fatty solid phase | Above 65 | 2.05 x 10^-3 | 3.94 x 10^-3 |
| Fatty solid phase | 20-64 | 1.84 x 10^-3 | 3.54 x 10^-3 |
| Fatty solid phase | 13-19 | 2.01 x 10^-3 | 3.86 x 10^-3 |
| Fatty solid phase | 7-12 | 3.17 x 10^-3 | 6.10 x 10^-3 |
| Fatty solid phase | 3-6 | 6.08 x 10^-3 | 1.17 x 10^-2 |
| Fatty solid phase | 1-2 | 9.48 x 10^-3 | 1.82 x 10^-2 |
| Non-fatty liquid phase | Above 65 | 8.53 x 10^-3 | 2.98 x 10^-3 |
| Non-fatty liquid phase | 20-64 | 7.67 x 10^-3 | 2.68 x 10^-3 |
| Non-fatty liquid phase | 13-19 | 8.36 x 10^-3 | 2.92 x 10^-3 |
| Non-fatty liquid phase | 7-12 | 1.32 x 10^-2 | 4.61 x 10^-3 |
| Non-fatty liquid phase | 3-6 | 2.53 x 10^-2 | 8.85 x 10^-3 |
| Non-fatty liquid phase | 1-2 | 3.95 x 10^-2 | 1.38 x 10^-2 |
| Fatty liquid phase | Above 65 | 2.01 x 10^-4 | 1.81 x 10^-3 |
| Fatty liquid phase | 20-64 | 1.81 x 10^-4 | 1.62 x 10^-3 |
| Fatty liquid phase | 13-19 | 1.97 x 10^-4 | 1.77 x 10^-3 |
| Fatty liquid phase | 7-12 | 3.11 x 10^-4 | 2.80 x 10^-3 |
| Fatty liquid phase | 3-6 | 5.96 x 10^-4 | 5.37 x 10^-3 |
| Fatty liquid phase | 1-2 | 9.30 x 10^-4 | 8.37 x 10^-3 |
Additional exposure/risk values reported in the text:
| Finding | Value |
|---|---|
| Overall average HMR intake, non-fatty solid phase | 0.088 g/day |
| Overall average HMR intake, fatty solid phase | 0.027 g/day |
| Overall average HMR intake, non-fatty liquid phase | 0.020 g/day |
| Overall average HMR intake, fatty liquid phase | 0.005 g/day |
| Average heavy-metal CDI for HMR products | 1.06 x 10^-2 ug/kg/day |
| High-consumption (95th percentile) average CDI for HMR products | 2.15 x 10^-2 ug/kg/day |
| MOE for total population | 1.48 x 10^8 |
| MOE for 95th percentile group | 3.46 x 10^7 |
Methods (brief)
The authors purchased HMR products from Korean convenience and grocery stores from January to September 2020. After removing non-edible portions, samples were homogenized and stored at -18 C.
For Pb, Cd, As, and Sn, 0.5 g samples were digested with 7 mL ultrapure nitric acid and 0.5 mL hydrogen peroxide in a microwave-assisted acid digestion system, diluted to 25 mL, filtered through 0.45 um membranes, and analyzed by ICP-MS. For Me-Hg, 1.0 g samples were extracted with sodium chloride, hydrochloric acid, toluene, and L-cysteine before DMA analysis. Total Hg was also analyzed by DMA.
Implications
This is direct occurrence evidence for Korean home meal replacement and prepared-meal products. The study is useful for prepared-food heavy-metal surveillance and for method context where matrices span solid/liquid and fatty/non-fatty foods.
For HMTc use, the paper’s product aggregation is broad. It does not provide product-row-specific values for infant formula powder, baby foods, seafood, sauces, breads, rice cakes, meat products, or meal kits. The values should remain broad prepared-meal context unless a later extraction pass can resolve product-row fit from supplementary material or underlying sample metadata. Total arsenic is not inorganic arsenic, and total mercury is not methylmercury except for the explicit Me-Hg rows.
Wiki pages this source may touch
Verification notes
- Identity check: DOI
10.3390/foods11040504, raw handleRPMEHG_10-3390-foods11040504, candidate cite-keyhwang2022-home-meal-replacement-heavy-metals, and SHA-256b350623fc3c797088ca2208c4ce84f2b83320b09a2e6ceb57000abc0f129facdwere searched before creation; no existing clean post-2026-05-14 source page was found. - Full-PDF read performed from the 13-page MDPI PDF. Tables 1-6 were checked once from
pdftotext -layoutand Table 5 was checked a second time against a rendered page image before commit. The source’s supplementary Tables S1-S5 are named by the PDF but were not bundled in the local PDF. - Brand firewall: the page reports only source-level matrix-phase results and no brand-by-brand values.
- HMTc firewall: page records source facts only; no certification threshold, percentile, or pass/fail calculation is derived from this source.
Update history
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