Pappalardo et al. 2017 - canned tuna metals in Italy

Pappalardo et al. analyzed canned tuna products sold in Italian supermarkets for cadmium, lead, and total mercury, while also using COI DNA barcoding to verify the tuna species declared on the label. The paper is direct canned-tuna occurrence evidence. Brand-level mean concentrations were reported in mg/kg wet weight for five tuna-in-olive-oil products and five tuna-in-brine products. Mean Cd, Pb, and Hg values were below the cited EU limits, but one batch from an olive-oil product exceeded the Cd limit, and Hg exposure drove the authors’ consumption-frequency concern.

Key numbers

All concentrations are mean +/- SD in mg/kg wet weight. Non-detects are shown as reported by the authors.

The regulatory comparison cited by the paper was EC 1881/2006: Cd 0.10 mg/kg wet weight, Pb 0.30 mg/kg wet weight, and Hg 1.0 mg/kg wet weight for the listed tuna species. Mean values did not exceed those limits, but the authors report that one X1 batch reached 0.13 mg/kg Cd. They found no significant difference in metal concentrations between tuna packed in olive oil and tuna packed in brine. Comparing identified species, Katsuwonus pelamis had significantly higher Cd than Thunnus albacares, with species means of 0.035 and 0.007 mg/kg respectively.

The EDI table, calculated for a 120 g canned-tuna meal and a 70 kg adult, reported Cd EDI values from 0.005 to 0.103 ug/kg-day and Hg EDI values from 0.086 to 0.823 ug/kg-day. Pb EDI was reported only for products with detected Pb, from 0.002 to 0.017 ug/kg-day.

Methods (brief)

The study purchased five brands of tuna in olive oil and five brands of tuna in brine from Italian supermarkets. Three samples per brand were selected for COI DNA barcoding using FishF1/FishR1 primers, GenBank reference sequences, and maximum-likelihood classification. For metals, three 0.5 g aliquots of each sample were microwave digested with nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide, then quantified by ICP-MS. The authors validated analysis with NIST Lake Superior fish reference material and spike recovery for Pb. Reported method detection limits were 0.003 mg/kg for Cd, 0.001 mg/kg for Pb, and 0.002 mg/kg for Hg.

Implications

Certification: This source contributes brand-level canned-tuna Cd, Pb, and total-Hg occurrence values on a wet-weight basis for the Italian retail market. It is not methylmercury-specific evidence; Hg is total mercury by ICP-MS.

Courses: The paper is a compact example of why product-form labels and species labels both matter for seafood evidence. The fetch label implied olive-oil occurrence, but the measured matrix is tuna muscle packed in olive oil or brine, not the oil itself.

App: The highest mean tHg value was 0.480 mg/kg in one brine product, and the authors’ risk assessment treated possible methylmercury conservatively when discussing meal frequency. The source supports canned-tuna Hg context but should not be displayed as measured MeHg.

Microbiome (if applicable): Not addressed.

Wiki pages this source may touch

• canned-fish
• seafood
• canned-tuna
• fish
• cadmium
• lead
• mercury

Verification notes

The PDF title, byline, DOI, journal, year, Table I species labels, Table II metal concentrations, methods, method detection limits, and risk-assessment summary were read from the auto-fetched PDF. The auto-fetched filename was an olive-oil cadmium gap hit, but the routeable food matrix is canned tuna in olive oil or brine; no olive-oil contaminant concentration was measured separately. Mercury is reported as Hg by ICP-MS, not methylmercury.

Page history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page. The full version history lives in git; when DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.