Toxic and essential metals determination in commercial seafood:Paracentrotus lividusby ICP-MS

Abstract

Toxic and essential metals content was determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in commercial sea urchins samples from the Mediterranean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Results show that Chilean samples have the highest values of Cd, As, Ni, Cr and V; Spanish samples have the maximum Hg content while Sicilian samples have the lowest content of toxic metals. The toxic metal traces were compared with the limits of European Community (EC) No. 1881/2006 for bivalve molluscs. All samples exceed Pb and Cd limit levels; regarding Hg levels, only Sicilian and Sardinian samples have Hg content below the EC limits. The dietary intake of toxic and essential elements was evaluated for an adult. Furthermore, our study highlights a correlation between the toxic elements content and the marine environmental conditions of the places of origin even though only the generic FAO fishing area is specified.

Statistical Analysis of Mineral Concentration for the Geographic Identification of Garlic Samples from Sicily (Italy), Tunisia and Spain

“…In the literature, there are many scientific reports of ICP-MS analysis for the determination of mineral concentration in food matrices including garlic [5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. Furthermore, nowadays there is great attention paid to the discrimination of protected foodstuffs [12,13,14].…”

Toxic Metals in Pelagic, Benthic and Demersal Fish Species from Mediterranean FAO Zone 37

“…Fish is considered a food rich of high-quality proteins and long chain polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids but low in saturated fatty acids (Sidhu 2003). At the same time, seafood represent a significant source of heavy metal exposure (Lo Turco et al 2012;Di Bella et al 2015;Salvo et al 2015) and the eating of edible marine species gives particularly the greatest contribution to mercury intake (Ferrantelli et al 2012) and, for this reason, fishes are considered bioindicators to metal pollution (Salvo et al 2014;Copat et al 2012). The Mediterranean Sea is one of the marine areas of the world showing increase in fisheries, with high exploitation of both demersal and big pelagic fishes.…”

Spatial variations in trace element concentrations of the sea urchin, Paracentrotus lividus, a first reference study in the Mediterranean Sea

“…This marine invertebrate is a relevant biological model for the study of environmental pollution. It is recognized as a bioindicator for several reasons: its ecological relevance, benthic and relatively sedimentary lifestyle, rapid response, and high sensitivity to many types of contaminants (Ruocco et al, 2016;Salvo et al, 2016;Scanu et al, 2015). These qualities allow the comparison of marine TE contamination on both the local and the international scale.…”