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Methylmercury Determination in Fish by Direct Mercury Analyzer
Tae-Hun Kim1,2, Min-Ja Cho1, Yongmin Lee1
1Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, National Food and Drug Safety Evaluation, Food Safety Evaluation Department, Food Contaminants Division, Osong, Cheongju 28159, Republic of Korea.
Journal of AOAC International
|September 21, 2019
Summary
A new, simple method accurately quantifies methylmercury (MeHg) in fish using direct mercury analysis (DMA). This faster technique offers high recovery, simplifying MeHg determination in seafood.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Chemistry
- Analytical Chemistry
- Food Safety
Background:
- Existing methods for methylmercury (MeHg) quantification in fish, such as AOAC INTERNATIONAL Official Method 988.11 and the Korean Food Code (KFC) method, are time-consuming and chemically intensive due to complex extraction steps.
- These traditional methods require significant chemical reagents and lengthy pretreatment, posing challenges for routine analysis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel, simplified, and rapid method for determining methylmercury (MeHg) in fish samples.
- To utilize oxygen combustion-gold amalgamation with a direct mercury analyzer (DMA) for efficient MeHg analysis.
- To validate the new method against established protocols, ensuring comparable accuracy and reliability.
Main Methods:
- Developed a new analytical approach involving oxygen combustion and gold amalgamation, utilizing a direct mercury analyzer (DMA).
- Employed organic extraction followed by back-extraction into an aqueous medium to isolate MeHg prior to analysis.
- Validated the method by comparing MeHg recovery rates with the Korean Food Code (KFC) method using certified reference materials and market-purchased fish.
Main Results:
- The developed method demonstrated excellent linearity (r = 0.9998) across a wide analytical range (0.1-300 μg/kg).
- Achieved a low detection limit of 1.02 μg/kg and a quantification limit (LOQ) of 3.09 μg/kg.
- Reported high MeHg recovery rates between 95-97%, comparable to the KFC method.
Conclusions:
- The novel method offers a significantly simpler and faster sample pretreatment procedure for MeHg determination in fish.
- It provides a promising alternative to existing methods, achieving high MeHg recovery rates.
- The developed method allows for the simultaneous analysis of total mercury and MeHg using only DMA equipment.
