Contenido de mercurio y arsénico en atún y sardinas enlatadas mexicanas

Mercury and arsenic contents were determined in 84 samples of six commercial brands of tuna and sardine canned in Mexico. The analyses were performed by the hydride generation/atomic absorption spectrometric method. Minimum and maximum mercury contents were from 0.18 to 4.52 and from 0.14 to 4.74 mg/kg, with average contents of 1.23 and 0.74 mg/kg, for tuna and sardine, respectively. Minimum and maximum arsenic contents were from 2.69 to 11.14 and from 1.61 to 11.22 mg/kg, with average contents of 5.60 and 5.86 mg/kg, for tuna and sardine, respectively. The 36% of the tuna samples analyzed by mercury were above the maximum concentration of 1.0 mg/kg of mercury in fish, recommended by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States of America. Arsenic content of 2.2 mg/kg is above the reported in England. From these results the urgency to develop larger scale studies to evaluate the magnitude of the problem is evident, as well as the identification of the organic or inorganic metal form of the products in Mexico.