Author(s):

Quratulan Ahmed, Levent Bat

Abstract: This study was conducted to investigate the contamination of four heavy metals in the tissues of Alepes djedaba and to evaluate risks to human health associated with seafood consumption, and to compare it with the provisional tolerable weekly intake. Fish samples were collected from Karachi fish harbour on monthly basis during the year of 2011 for metal analysis. The concentrations of Pb in muscle, liver, gills and kidney tissues ranged from 0.02 (April) to 0.94 (May), 0.19 to 3.10 (both in February), 0.16 (November) to 2.24 (April) and 0.11 (June) to 1.84 (March) mg/kg dry wt., respectively. The concentrations of Cd in muscle tissues, liver, gills and kidney ranged from 0.13 (January) to 1.21 (December), 0.19 (April) to 2.93 (February), 0.62 (February) to 2.91 (December) and 0.18 (September) to 2.51 (January) mg/kg dry wt., respectively. The mean (±SD) concentration of Pb (0.335±0.213 mg/kg dry wt.) and Cd (0.386±0.233 mg/kg dry wt.) were recorded in muscle. In general, the findings from this study revealed that Pb concentrations based on wet wt. in the edible tissues were lower than the maximum permissible limit as recommended by the Commission Regulation (EC), Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, UK and other international organizations, whereas Cd levels were slightly higher than the maximum permissible limit as recommended by the EC. This study found that levels of the metals in the liver, gills and kidney tissues in some samples were higher than the recommended concentrations. However, consumers do not routinely consume the viscera and gills. The average weekly intakes of Pb and Cd per body weight values were also not exceeded the Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI) established.

Pages: 93-96  |  1878 Views  314 Downloads

Download (355KB)