Assessment of trace elements in fishes of Japanese foods marketed in São Paulo (Brazil)

Abstract

In recent years, there has been increasing fish consumption in Brazil, largely due to the popularity of Japanese cuisine. No study, however, has previously assessed the presence of inorganic contaminants in species used in the preparation of Japanese food. In this paper, we determined total arsenic, cadmium, chromium, total mercury, and lead contents in 82 fish samples of Tuna (Thunnus thynnus), Porgy (Pagrus pagrus), Snook (Centropomus sp.), and Salmon (Salmo salar) species marketed in São Paulo (Brazil). Samples were mineralized in HNO3/H2O2 for As, Cd, Cr and Pb, and in HNO3/H2SO4/V2O5 for Hg. Inorganic contaminants were determined after the validation of the methodology using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP OES); and for Hg, an ICP-coupled hydride generator was used. Concentration ranges for elements analyzed in mg kg−1 (wet base) were as follows: Total As (0.11–10.82); Cd (0.005–0.047); Cr (0.008–0.259); Pb (0.026–0.481); and total Hg (0.0077–0.9681). As and Cr levels exceeded the maximum limits allowed by the Brazilian law (1 and 0.1 mg kg−1) in 51.2 and 7.3% of the total samples studied, respectively. The most contaminated species were porgy (As = 95% and Cr = 10%) and tuna (As 91% and Cr = 10%). An estimation of As, Cd, Pb, and Hg weekly intake was calculated considering a 60 kg adult person and a 350 g consumption of fish per week, with As and Hg elements presenting the highest contribution on diets reaching 222% of provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) for As in porgy and 41% of PTWI for Hg in tuna.