Assessment of heavy metal residues in some fishery products

Abstract

To estimate the levels of mercury and lead in fishery products, one hundred random samples of frozen fish, salted sardine, fesiekh and canned tuna (25 of each) were collected randomly from different fish markets in Kafr El-Sheikh and Gharbia governorates, Egypt. The obtained results revealed that the mean values of mercury and lead (mg/kg) were (0.38 ± 0.01 and 0.29 ± 0.01) in frozen fish (0.61 ± 0.01 and 0.47 ± 0.01) in salted sardine, (0.79 ± 0.01 and 0.71 ± 0.01) in fesiekh and (1.03 ± 0.02 and 0.90 ± 0.01) in canned tuna, respectively. The levels of mercury and lead were significantly (p<0.05) higher in canned tuna and fesiekh than salted sardine and frozen fish. Moreover, the majority of the examined fish samples, particularly, canned tuna and fesiekh exceeded the safe permissible limits. In this respect, (48%, 40%) and (44%, 32%) of the examined samples of canned tuna and fesiekh and (36%, 24%) and (28%, 20%) of the examined samples of salted sardine and frozen were above the maximum permissible limits recommended by EOS (2010) for mercury and lead, respectively. As conclusion, the examined samples of canned tuna and fesiekh were significantly polluted with high levels of toxic metals (mercury and lead) which seriously distress human health.