Risk assessment of heavy metals in tuna from Japanese restaurants in the Republic of Korea

Seong-Jin Bae; Kyu-Sik Shin; Chulyong Park; Kiook Baek; So-Young Son; Joon Sakong

doi:10.35371/aoem.2023.35.e3

Risk assessment of heavy metals in tuna from Japanese restaurants in the Republic of Korea

Ann Occup Environ Med. 2023 Feb 9:35:e3. doi: 10.35371/aoem.2023.35.e3. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Seong-Jin Bae¹, Kyu-Sik Shin², Chulyong Park^{1

3}, Kiook Baek¹, So-Young Son¹, Joon Sakong^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Yeungnam University Hospital, Daegu, Korea.
² Graduate School of Environment & Public Health Studies, Yeungnam University, Daegu, Korea.
³ Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Daegu, Korea.

Abstract

Background: Studies on the risk of mercury (Hg) in Korean fishery products focus primarily on total Hg levels as opposed to methylmercury (MeHg) levels. None of the few studies on MeHg in tuna investigated tuna from Japanese restaurants. Few have evaluated lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) in tuna. Thus, this study aimed to conduct a risk assessment by evaluating heavy metal concentrations in tuna from Japanese restaurants.

Methods: Thirty-one tuna samples were collected from Japanese restaurants in the Republic of Korea. They were classified according to region and species. The concentration of heavy metals in the samples was analyzed using the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Food Code method. The rate of exceedance of maximum residue levels (MRLs) and the risk compared to the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) set by the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives (%PTWI) were evaluated for risk assessment.

Results: The mean of MeHg, Pb, Cd and As concentrations were 0.56 ± 1.47 mg/kg, 33.95 ± 3.74 μg/kg, 14.25 ± 2.19 μg/kg and 1.46 ± 1.89 mg/kg, respectively. No sample exceeded the MRLs of Pb and Cd, but 9.7% of the samples exceeded the MRL of MeHg. The %PTWIs of MeHg, Pb, Cd and As were 4.2037, 0.0162, 0.0244 and 1.1627, respectively. The %PTWI of MeHg by age group and sex was highest among men aged 19-29 years (10.6494), followed by men aged 30-49 years (7.2458) and women aged 19-29 years (4.8307).

Conclusions: We found that 3 out of 31 samples exceeded the MRL of MeHg. The %PTWI of MeHg showed significant differences based on age and sex, and the value was likely to exceed a safe level depending on individuals' eating behaviors. Therefore, improved risk management for MeHg is required.

Keywords: Mercury; Metals, Heavy; Republic of Korea; Risk assessment; Tuna.