Heavy metals in seafood purchased from a fishery market in Hungary

Overview

Lehel, Bartha, Danko, Lanyi, and Laczay measured arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury in shellfish, oysters, and squids purchased from a Hungarian fishery product market. The samples represented imported seafood origins: shellfish from Denmark and Italy, oysters from France, and squids from Argentina. Arsenic is reported as total/unspecified arsenic; mercury is reported as total mercury and was below the method limit of detection in every sample.

Key numbers

Table 3 reports heavy-metal content in mg kg-1 ww as mean +/- SD and range:

The abstract states that the average concentration of arsenic in shellfish, 3.01 +/- 1.46 mg kg-1, was significantly higher than in oysters (2.88 +/- 1.12 mg kg-1) and squids (1.28 +/- 0.52 mg kg-1). Cadmium was detected in all samples, but the source reports no statistical difference among shellfish, oysters, and squids (p = 0.351). Lead was detected above the 0.2 mg kg-1 LOD in 54.8% of shellfish samples, 38.2% of oyster samples, and 31.6% of squid samples; the source reports no statistical difference among species (p = 0.412).

Table 4 reports exposure-context intake calculations in ug kg-1. Calculated arsenic intake ranges were shellfish 24.3-184.1 (average 70.2), oyster 34.5-151.0 (average 67.2), and squid 10.0-56.5 (average 29.8). Calculated cadmium intake ranges were shellfish 10.3-66.3 (average 24.3), oyster 14.0-42.9 (average 26.1), and squid 9.3-74.7 (average 28.0). Calculated lead intake ranges were shellfish < 4.7-127.4 (average 22.1), oyster < 4.7-54.8 (average 15.4), and squid < 4.7-34.3 (average 13.8).

Methods (brief)

Samples were collected weekly for 20 weeks from March to July 2015 at a local fishery product market in Hungary. Soft tissues of shellfish and oysters and squid tubes without gastrointestinal tract were homogenized, frozen at -70 °C, microwave-digested with nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide, and analyzed by ICP-OES. Method validation used bovine liver reference material NIST SRM 1577c; reported LODs were arsenic (As) 0.5 mg kg-1, cadmium (Cd) 0.05 mg kg-1, mercury (Hg) 0.5 mg kg-1, and lead (Pb) 0.2 mg kg-1.

Implications

This source supplies direct seafood-market occurrence evidence for shellfish, oysters, and squid sold in Hungary, with imported seafood origins documented in the sampling section. It is useful for shellfish and broad seafood routing, but the arsenic values are total arsenic and should not be used as measured inorganic arsenic. The mercury result is total mercury below LOD; it should not be promoted to methylmercury.

Update history

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