Determination and human health risk assessment of mercury in fish samples

This work reports the determination of mercury in fish samples purchased at a public market in Belem City, Brazil. The mercury quantification was performed using the DMA method, which allows limits of detection and quantification of 0.004 and 0.012 ng, respectively. Method accuracy was confirmed using a certified reference material of fish protein from (NRCC) National Research Council, Canada. The analyzed species were: Dourada (Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii), Filhote (Brachyplatystoma filamentosum), Pescada Branca (Cynoscion leiarchus), Piramutaba (Brachyplatystoma vaillanti). The mercury contents expressed as wet sample weight varied from 0.078 to 0.150 μg g-1. Afterward, the health risk assessment indices Estimated Weekly Intake (EWI), Target Hazard Quotient (THQ), and Maximum Safe Consuming Quantity (MSCQ) were applied to the analytical data, and the results obtained were exhaustively interpreted and discussed. All the indices demonstrated that the daily consumption of 25 g of these fishes does not pose a risk to the human health of the local population. However, these conclusions are preliminary and should not be used in public policy matters.