Kowalska and colleagues measured 13 elements (cobalt, silver, tin, antimony, lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, vanadium, chromium, manganese, nickel, and uranium) in 90 commercial canned products purchased in Poland: 14 canned meat assortments and 16 canned fish assortments, 3 replicates each. Analysis used ICP-MS (Varian 820-MS) for all elements except mercury, which was measured by cold-vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (AMA 254). Samples were freeze-dried then microwave-digested in concentrated nitric acid. All results are on a wet-weight basis in mg/kg. The certified reference materials NIST-1577c Bovine Liver, NIST SRM 1548a, and TM 27.3 gave recoveries of 90 to 104 percent. The headline finding is that canned meat carried higher lead than canned fish (mean 202 ppb vs 68 ppb), while canned fish carried much higher mercury, arsenic, and nickel than canned meat. Several canned meat assortments approached or exceeded the EU lead maximum of 100 ppb.
Key numbers
All concentrations mg/kg wet weight unless noted. Means are across the assortment-level means (n=14 for canned meat, n=16 for canned fish); individual assortment means represent 3 replicates.
Canned meat (n=42, 14 assortments):
Lead (Pb): mean across assortments 0.202 mg/kg (202 ppb); individual assortment means ranged from 0.013 mg/kg (pork luncheon M13) to 0.395 mg/kg (canned beef M3); LOQ 0.01 mg/kg; CRM recovery 99 percent; Table 3. The EU maximum level for lead in canned meat is 0.10 mg/kg per Commission Regulation 1881/2006; several assortments (M1 at 0.232, M2 at 0.184, M3 at 0.350, M4 at 0.286, M7 at 0.215, M11 at 0.217, M12 at 0.195, M14 at 0.238) reported means exceeding 0.10 mg/kg. The authors note the laboratory-to-laboratory spread in literature values as a potential source of discordance.
Cadmium (Cd): mean 0.020 mg/kg (20 ppb); most individual assortments fell below the LOQ of 0.007 mg/kg; the highest assortment mean was M12 (pork luncheon) at 0.089 mg/kg and M14 (chicken pate) at 0.045 mg/kg; CRM recovery 99 percent; Table 3.
Total mercury (tHg): mean range below LOQ to 0.001 mg/kg (most assortments below the LOQ of 0.0015 mg/kg); highest single assortment mean M4 (beef) 0.0007 mg/kg; LOQ 0.0015 mg/kg; CRM recovery 90 percent; Table 3.
Total arsenic (tAs): mean 0.002 to 0.003 mg/kg across most meat assortments (2 to 3 ppb); chicken pate M14 was an outlier at 0.359 mg/kg (359 ppb), substantially above all other meat assortments; LOQ 0.003 mg/kg; CRM recovery 101 percent; Table 3.
Tin (Sn): mean across meat assortments 0.200 mg/kg (200 ppb); assortment range 0.055 mg/kg (beef M1) to 0.572 mg/kg (pork luncheon M10); LOQ 7.43 mg/kg (high LOQ due to Sn background variation); all well below the EU limit of 200 mg/kg; CRM recovery 96 percent; Table 3.
Total chromium (Cr): mean across meat assortments 0.244 mg/kg (244 ppb); assortment range 0.158 (chicken pate M14) to 0.374 mg/kg (pork luncheon M10); CRM recovery 100 percent; Table 4. Total chromium only; hexavalent chromium speciation was not performed.
Manganese (Mn): mean 0.216 mg/kg; assortment range 0.129 to 0.627 mg/kg; highest in chicken pate M14; Table 4. This was the most abundant monitored element among the trace toxic metals in canned meat.
Nickel (Ni): mean 0.004 mg/kg; most assortments below the LOQ of 0.258 mg/kg; detectable in only a subset of assortments; Table 4.
Canned fish (n=48, 16 assortments, for comparison):
Lead (Pb): mean 0.068 mg/kg (68 ppb); range 0.011 (herring F11) to 0.518 mg/kg (brown bullhead F15); Table 3.
Total mercury (tHg): mean 0.064 mg/kg (64 ppb); range 0.006 (sardines F4 in one assortment) to 0.116 mg/kg (brown bullhead F15); substantially higher than canned meat; Table 3.
Total arsenic (tAs): mean 0.857 mg/kg (857 ppb); range 0.026 (mackerel F14) to 1.481 mg/kg (tuna F3); 125-fold higher than typical canned meat; Table 3.
Nickel (Ni): mean 0.088 mg/kg; range 0.032 to 0.162 mg/kg; much higher than canned meat; Table 4.
Health risk assessment (Table 6): Total target hazard quotients (TTHQ) across all monitored metals were below 1 for both canned meat (mean TTHQ 0.012, max 0.038) and canned fish (mean 0.513, max 0.974), indicating no combined non-cancer risk at the consumption rates modeled. For canned meat, cadmium was the highest individual THQ contributor (mean 0.003), followed by lead (mean 0.004) and antimony.
Methods (brief)
Sampling: Polish retail, 2017 production year, 14 canned meat and 16 canned fish assortments, 3 replicate cans per assortment. Sample preparation: freeze-drying followed by microwave digestion (Mars 5, CEM) in 10 mL 65 percent HNO3, 0.5 g sample. ICP-MS (Varian 820-MS) for 12 elements; cold-vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (AMA 254) for mercury. Certified reference materials: NIST-1577c Bovine Liver, NIST SRM 1548a, TM 27.3. Recoveries 90 to 104 percent, RSD 0.76 to 7.43 percent. All results wet weight (mg/kg product as purchased). LODs and LOQs are reported in Table 2.
Evidence fitness
Supports: lead, cadmium, tin, arsenic, chromium, manganese occurrence in Polish commercial canned meat (wet weight, 2017 production). Supports comparison of canned meat vs canned fish metal profiles under identical analytical conditions. Supports total target hazard quotient estimation at modeled Polish consumption rates. Does not support inorganic arsenic speciation (total arsenic only). Does not support hexavalent chromium (total chromium only). Does not support methylmercury speciation. Does not represent the full European or global market; product scope is Polish retail, 2017.
Limitations
Fourteen canned meat assortments from a single country (Poland) and a single production year; market representativeness is limited. The LOQ for tin (7.43 mg/kg) is high relative to the concentrations reported; tin values below the LOQ are not reliably quantified. The arsenic outlier in chicken pate (M14, 0.359 mg/kg) is not explained by the authors and may reflect a batch artifact or analytical issue. Health risk estimates use assumed consumption data and body weights that may not reflect current intake distributions.
Related evidence
Update history
No substantive edit history is available in this build. The full commit record is available in git.