Trace element fingerprinting of cockle (Cerastoderma edule) shells can reveal harvesting location in adjacent areas.

Fernando Ricardo,Ricardo Calado,Henrique Queiroga,Rui Rosa,Rui Albuquerque,Luciana Génio,Miguel Costa Leal

doi:10.1038/srep11932

Fernando Ricardo, Ricardo Calado + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/srep11932

Copy DOI

Journal: Scientific Reports	Publication Date: Jul 7, 2015
Citations: 47	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Aveiro, University of Lisbon

Abstract

Determining seafood geographic origin is critical for controlling its quality and safeguarding the interest of consumers. Here, we use trace element fingerprinting (TEF) of bivalve shells to discriminate the geographic origin of specimens. Barium (Ba), manganese (Mn), magnesium (Mg), strontium (Sr) and lead (Pb) were quantified in cockle shells (Cerastoderma edule) captured with two fishing methods (by hand and by hand-raking) and from five adjacent fishing locations within an estuarine system (Ria de Aveiro, Portugal). Results suggest no differences in TEF of cockle shells captured by hand or by hand-raking, thus confirming that metal rakes do not act as a potential source of metal contamination that could somehow bias TEF results. In contrast, significant differences were recorded among locations for all trace elements analysed. A Canonical Analysis of Principal Coordinates (CAP) revealed that 92% of the samples could be successfully classified according to their fishing location using TEF. We show that TEF can be an accurate, fast and reliable method to determine the geographic origin of bivalves, even among locations separated less than 1 km apart within the same estuarine system. Nonetheless, follow up studies are needed to determine if TEF can reliably discriminate between bivalves originating from different ecosystems.

Highlights

Shall be traceable at all stages of production, processing and distribution, from catching or harvesting to retail stage”
The following hypotheses were tested i) Trace element fingerprinting (TEF) of C. edule shell does not differ with fishing method, and ii) TEF of C. edule shell is similar among different locations within the same coastal lagoon
While no differences between specimens collected by hand or by hand-raking were detected (ANOSIM, p = 0.268, R = 0.025), significant differences among locations were observed for each trace element ratio (Fig. 2; one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), p < 0 .05 for all trace elements; Table 1, summarizes analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) results)

Summary

Introduction

Shall be traceable at all stages of production, processing and distribution, from catching or harvesting to retail stage”. The European regulation (EC) No 1379/2013 “on the common organization of the markets in fishery and aquaculture products” further contributes to the implementation of seafood traceability and requires that the category of fishing gear or production method (i.e. caught or farmed) is provided together with geographic detail of the catch area. This information is not always available to end consumers and is prone to fraudulent use (e.g. mislabelling of place of origin). The following hypotheses were tested i) TEF of C. edule shell does not differ with fishing method (i.e. hand-raking vs. by hand), and ii) TEF of C. edule shell is similar among different locations within the same coastal lagoon

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion