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Distribution of Mercury in Three Marine

Fish Species
ARTICLE DECEMBER 2015
DOI: 10.1016/j.profoo.2015.09.016

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Sran M. Stefanovi

Jelena Babic

Institut za higijenu i tehnologiju mesa

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Procedia Food Science 5 (2015) 65 68

International 58th Meat Industry Conference Meat Safety and Quality: Where it goes?

Distribution of Mercury in Three Marine Fish Species

Jasna Djinovic-Stojanovica,*, Dragica Nikolica, Danijela Vranica, Srdjan Stefanovica,
Milan Milijasevica, Jelena Babica, Sasa Jankovica
Institute of Meat Hygiene and Technology, Kacanskog 13, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia

Abstract
The aim of this study was to compare distribution of the total mercury (THg) content in three marine fish species: European
seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), Gilt-head bream (Sparus aurata) and Res scorpionfish (Scorpaena scrofa). Samples were
collected from the Serbian market during 2014 and analysed by applying inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS). The THg content in analysed fish samples was between 0.017 mg/kg and 0.108 mg/kg and significant differences (p < 0.05)
in THg content was established only between Gilt-head bream and Res scorpionfish. The estimated weekly intakes of THg
through fish consumption were several times lower than the established value.
2015
2015The
TheAuthors.
Authors.
Published
by Elsevier
Ltd.is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license

Published
by Elsevier
Ltd. This
Peer-review under responsibility of scientific committee of International 58th Meat Industry Conference Meat Safety and
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Quality: Where
goes? (MeatCon2015).
Peer-review
under itresponsibility
of scientific committee of The 58th International Meat Industry Conference (MeatCon2015)
Keywords: Total mercury; European seabass; Gilt-head bream; Res scorpionfish

1. Introduction
Fish meat is a significant source of food, especially in countries that have access to the sea. It is food with high
nutritional value and a wide variety of vitamins and minerals, including vitamins A and D, iodine, selenium and
magnesium. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) 1 of the United Nations, fish is the most
important single source of high quality protein, providing 16% of the animal protein consumed by the worlds
population. The content of saturated fatty acids in fish meat is lower than in red meat, while oily fish is high in

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +381-11-2650-655; fax: +381-11-2651-825.

E-mail address: jasna@inmesbgd.com

2211-601X 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of scientific committee of The 58th International Meat Industry Conference (MeatCon2015)

doi:10.1016/j.profoo.2015.09.016

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Jasna Djinovic-Stojanovic et al. / Procedia Food Science 5 (2015) 65 68

essential fatty acids2. Favorable influence of omega-3 fatty acids from fish meat on human health has been
confirmed in numerous studies3,4. Omega-3 fatty acids are critical for neurological development and health.
Researchers suggest that consumption of fish lowers the risk of coronary disease, especially myocardial infarction,
artherosclerosis, hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases5,6. Considering these health properties of fish
consumption, various national and international bodies recommend how much fish we should eat to benefit health.
Recommended values7 for fish consumption ranges from 97 to 550 g capita-1 week -1.
In contrast to the health benefits of dietary fish intake, there are many studies reporting significant levels of
environmental pollutants in fish8,9. Toxic substances such as trace elements and persistent organic pollutants are
contaminants present in the environment at low levels. These contaminants can be taken up by aquatic organisms
and through processes of bioconcentration and bioaccumulation, achieve higher levels in fish. Scientific data
indicate that fish are, potentially, major sources of human exposure to environmental pollutants 10.
Mercury is one of the most toxic heavy metals in the environment. The primary environmental source of human
Hg exposure is through consumption of freshwater fish and seafood which have accumulated a considerable amount
of Hg via biomagnification through the food chain11. This study seeks to estimate the content of total mercury (THg)
in the edible portion of three species of marine fish collected from the Serbian market. Additionally, data from this
study were used in order to assess intake of THg by analysed fish.
2. Materials and methods
Content of total mercury (THg) were measured in European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax, n = 14), Gilt-head
bream (Sparus aurata, n = 15) and Res scorpionfish (Scorpaena scrofa, n = 23). A total of 52 fish samples were
collected in Serbian markets during 2014. Labelled samples were stored in polyethylene bags and frozen at -18C
prior to analysis. Day before analysis, fish samples were partially thawed at +4C and edible parts were
homogenized. Approximately 0.3 g of samples were mineralized by adding 5 ml nitric acid (p.a. SIGMA) and 1.5
ml hydrogen peroxide (30%, p.a., MERCK). Microwave assisted digestion was performed using the Microwave
Digestion System (Via Fatebenefratelli, 1/5-24010 Sorisole (BG), Italy). The digested sample solutions were
quantitatively transferred into disposable flasks and diluted to 100 ml with deionized water (ELGA).
THg analysis was performed by inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Measurements were
performed using the instrument iCap Q (Thermo Scientific, Bremen, Germany) which was equipped with collision
cell and operating in kinetic energy discrimination (KED) mode. The 202Hg isotope was measured. Torch position,
ion optics and detector settings were adjusted daily using tuning solution (Thermo Scientific Tune B) in order to
optimize measurements and minimize possible interferences. For qualitative analysis of the samples, a five-point
calibration curve (including zero) was constructed for the 202Hg isotope in the concentration range of 0.2 2.0 mg/l.
An additional line of the peristaltic pump was used for on-line introduction of multi-element internal standard (45Sc
10 ng/ml; 71Ga 2 ng/ml). Concentrations of each measured sample were corrected for response factors of both
higher and lower mass internal standard using interpolation. The quality of the analytical process was controlled by
the analysis of the standard reference material (NIST SRM 1577c, Gaithersburg, USA). Measured concentrations
were within the range of the certified values for all isotopes. The limit of quantification was 0.001 mg/kg.
For data analysis a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukeys post hoc test, which was performed
using Minitab 16, was used for the comparison of the mean content of Hg in different fish species.
3. Results and discussion
Contents of THg (mg/kg) in three analysed fish species, expressed as mean value and standard deviation (SD),
are shown in Figure 1. Statistical analysis of the data showed significant differences (p < 0.05) only between the
total mercury content in gilt-head bream and res scorpionfish. THg limits defined by Serbian legislation12 for
European seabass and gilt-head bream (500 ng/g fresh weight) as well as for res scorpionfish (1000 ng/g fresh
weight) were not exceeded in any of the analyzed samples. Content of total mercury in fish muscle was in the range
of 0.017-0.108 mg/kg. According to the scientific data13 the percentage of mercury from methyl mercury in total
mercury is approximately 90%. Obtained results for THg content are in accordance with previous studies8,10,14 where
the presence of inorganic contaminants (As, Cd, Cr, Hg and Pb) was evaluated in different fish and seafood species.

Jasna Djinovic-Stojanovic et al. / Procedia Food Science 5 (2015) 65 68

According to the results of the mentioned studies, the total content of mercury in analysed fish samples were
between <0.01 mg/kg and 0.20 mg/kg.

Fig. 1. The mean values for THg content [mg/kg] in three fish species (A, B values expressed as columns followed by different letters are differ
significantly (p<0.05)).

According to the GEMS/Food Consumption Cluster Diets database15 the average weekly consumption of marine
fish in Serbia is 106.4 g/week. Using the obtained data, the weekly intakes of THg via three fish species
consumption were calculated (Table 1). Total mercury intake expressed as weekly intake (WI) was calculated using
the following formula: WI = (weekly consumption data x content of compound) / body weight 16.
Table 1. Weekly intakes (WI) of total mercury (THg) via fish consumption [g/kg b.w.].
Weekly intakes of THg [g/kg b.w.]
Mean

Maximum

Mean

Maximum

Fish

50% - 70 kg*

5% - 51 kg**

European seabass

0.078

0.122

0.106

0.167

Gilt-head bream

0.072

0.123

0.099

0.169

Res scorpionfish

0.099

0.164

0.136

0.225

16 **

body mass of 70 kg represents 50% of population ; body mass of 51 kg represents 5% of population 16.

The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) established a provisional tolerable weekly
intake (PTWI) of 1.6 g methyl mercury (MetHg)/kg b.w.17. The estimated weekly intakes of THg through fish
consumption among Serbian population (Table 1) are several times lower than this established value.
4. Conclusion
The obtained results from this study indicate that the estimated weekly intakes of total mercury through three fish
species consumption (European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), Gilt-head bream (Sparus aurata) and Res
scorpionfish (Scorpaena scrofa)) by the Serbian population were several times lower than the value established by
JECFA17. Content of total mercury in fish muscle was in the range of 0.017-0.108 mg/kg and significant differences
(p < 0.05) in THg content was established only between Gilt-head bream and Res scorpionfish.

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Jasna Djinovic-Stojanovic et al. / Procedia Food Science 5 (2015) 65 68

Acknowledgement
This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of
the Republic of Serbia (project no. TR 31075).
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