Elemental Analysis of Crustaceans by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry and Direct Mercury Analysis

This study reports the concentrations of As, Cd, Hg, and Pb in commonly consumed crustaceans collected from South Korea. The samples were prepared by wet digestion using HNO3 and H2O2 by microwave-assisted combustion. For the determination of As, Cd, and Pb, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry was used, while Hg was determined by gold amalgamation direct mercury analysis. The techniques were validated by determining quality parameters of correlation coefficients, limits of detection and quantification, coefficient of variance, recovery, and accuracy by analyzing an oyster tissue certified reference material (NIST CRM-1566b). The distribution of toxic metals was determined in whole, muscle, and digestive tracts of the crustaceans. Also, to provide information concerning consumer safety, risk assessment in terms of estimated dietary daily/ weekly intake, target hazard quotient, and hazard index values was carried out. The concentration ranges (mg/kg) of the analyzed elements were in the decreasing order of As (4.0-25.2) > Cd (0.154-4.57) > Pb (0.033-0.128) > Hg (0.011-0.086). The estimated dietary daily/weekly intake, target hazard quotient, and hazard index values were compared with the standard limits set by United States Environmental Protection Agency and Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives. In general, the analyzed crustaceans were found not to cause any threat to consumers under normal circumstances.

Automated summary

This study reports the concentrations of As, Cd, Hg, and Pb in commonly consumed crustaceans collected from South Korea. The techniques used for analysis were validated, and the study also carried out risk assessment to determine the potential threat of these crustaceans to consumers. It was found that under normal circumstances, these crustaceans do not pose a threat to consumers.