Canned sardines commercialized in Brazil: Packaging and inorganic contaminants evaluation

Exposure to Toxic Metals and Health Risk Assessment through Ingestion of Canned Sardines Sold in Brazil

“…Arsenic concentrations were higher in comparison to sardines preserved in oil marketed in the USA, with values of 0 to 0.00009 mg/84 g [45]. Again, our findings are above those from sardines sold in Poland, with an average of 0.162 mg/84 g of As [46], but comparable to other in Brazil, with arsenic levels ranging from 0.064 to 0.541 mg/84 g in oil, and from 0.055 to 0.351 mg/84 g in tomato sauce [19]. Consistent data shows that long-term exposure to arsenic from food can cause cancer [47] and neurodegenerative diseases, liver and cardiovascular disorders, and cytotoxic and genotoxic effects [48,49].…”

“…According to the non-carcinogenic risk index (HI) calculated by adding up the risk quotients for simultaneous exposure to metals, all SO and ST samples showed an HI value greater than 1 for all population groups studied. [19] found greater amounts of aluminum in canned sardines than we reported in Table 4, with concentrations between <0.04 and 1.112 mg/84 g. Migration aluminum levels assessed in simulant environments had higher amounts when in an acid solution than in an oil solution [39], which can partially explain the role of tomato sauce in aluminum distribution among samples. This data can best be classified under the maximum allowable limit of aluminum intake from food and water set by WHO at 2 mg/kg/week, equivalent to 17.71 mg/day for a 62 kg adult, 19.99 mg/day for 70 kg adults, and 7.43 mg/day for 26 kg children [40].…”

“…Brazilian sardines showed cadmium results between 0.0159 and 0.0319 mg/84 g [56], which were significantly above our findings. In another study in Brazil, cadmium content did not differ between conservative types (oil or tomato sauce) or between brands [19]. Nonetheless, the cadmium in these samples may be attributed to the levels of this element in the tomatoes, with possible contamination through the use of inorganic fertilizers [57,58].…”

“…Canned fish is an alternative used worldwide for the preservation and increased shelf life of fish products; however, such products present a higher risk of contamination of trace elements coming from the species of fish used in the canning and the material used in the packaging, which is a kind of steel can coated with electrolytic chromium/chromium oxide [19].…”

“…Studies from several countries have determined the content of inorganic contaminants in canned fish, suggesting threshold concentrations and detecting excessive inorganic contamination, serving as parameters to avoid carcinogenic and neurotoxic effects on the human organism [19,20].…”