Mercury and methylmercury intake estimation due to seafood products for the Catalonian population (Spain)

Santiago Rodellar-Torras (1) , Mireia Fontcuberta (1, 2) , Josep Arqués (1, 2) , Josep Calderón (3) , Lluís Serra-Majem (4, 5) , Lourdes Ribas-Barba (4)

1 Department of Food Safety
2 CIBERESP, Spain
3 Department of Chemistry
4 Community Nutrition Research Group
5 Clinical Sciences Department

This study estimates mercury and methylmercury levels in fish and fishery products commercialized in the city of Barcelona from 2001 to 2007. Combining food levels data with the consumption data of 2158 people (as the median of two 24-hour-recall), the total Mercury intake of the Catalonian population was calculated. Mercury was detected in 32,8% of analyses samples. The general population average weekly intake of total mercury in Catalonian population was 0.783 μg/kg of body weight. This value is clearly lower than the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) provisional tolerable weekly intakes (PTWI) of 5 μg/kg of body weight. Fish group was the main contributor to this value, mainly due to predatory species.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Santiago Rodellar-Torras, Mireia Fontcuberta, Josep Arqués, Josep Calderón, Lluís Serra-Majem, et al.. Mercury and methylmercury intake estimation due to seafood products for the Catalonian population (Spain). Food Additives and Contaminants, 2009, 27 (01), pp.29-35. ⟨10.1080/02652030903150559⟩. ⟨hal-00573898⟩