Contents of mercury, lead, cadmium, and arsenic in dried marine products

This survey was carried out to estimate the contents of heavy metals (Hg, Pb, Cd, and As) in 10 kinds of dried marine products (n=189) which are closely related to food resources. The contents of heavy metals were estimated by inductively coupled plasma spectrometer (ICP) and mercury analyzer. The values of heavy metals in dried marine products were as follows (MeanSD (range), mg/kg). The average contents of heavy metals in the dried marine products were Hg (0.002~0.502) mg/kg, Pb (ND~5.130) mg/kg, Cd (ND~6.802) mg/kg, As (ND~71.760) mg/kg. The range of heavy metal contents in dried marine products are low level, except of lead contents (n=2). In the comparison of heavy metal content by anchovy size, it was shown that cadmium, mercury and arsenic were meaningfully different. The contents of heavy metals by the shape of shrimp and Alaska Pollack were shown that the result of each group was meaningless. In the comparison imported production with domestic production, in the case of common squid, cadmium and arsenic were meaningfully different. The weekly average intakes of Hg, Pb and Cd from dried marine products takes about 1.17~11.52% of PTWI (Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intakes) that FAO/WHO Joint Food Additive and Contaminants Committee has set to evaluate their safeties.