Evaluation of the heavy metals (mercury, lead, and cadmium) contamination of sardine (Sardina pilchardus) and swordfish (Xiphias gladius) fished in three Algerian coasts

Vet World Vol.12 January-2019 Article-2

Research Article

Veterinary World, 12(1): 7-11

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2019.7-11

Fetta Mehouel¹, Leila Bouayad¹, Abdel Hamid Hammoudi², Ouarda Ayadi³, and Fifi Regad⁴

1. Laboratory of Food Hygiene and Quality Insurance System, High National Veterinary School, Algiers, Algeria.
2. Laboratory of Microbiology, Institute of Veterinary Sciences, Tiaret, Algeria.
3. Laboratory of Parasitology, Institute of Veterinary Sciences El Khroub, University of Freres Mentouri, Constantine 1, Algeria.
4. Laboratory of the Water and Sanitation Society, Algiers, Algeria.

Background and Aim: This study aimed to evaluate mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) levels in 70 samples of sardine (Sardina pilchardus) and 30 samples of swordfish (Xiphias gladius) fished in the Algerian coasts.

Materials and Methods: After the mineralization of the fish samples through the pressure digestion, the analyses were carried out by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy.

Results: Mean concentrations of Hg, Cd, and Pb in sardine were 0.62, 0.55, and 2.13 mg/kg wet weight, respectively, while in swordfish, the concentrations were 0.56, 0.57, and 3.9 mg/kg wet weight, respectively. These results exceeded the Algerian and European legislation threshold values, whereas Hg's concentration in swordfish remained close to and did not exceed the recommended thresholds (0.56 mg/kg wet weight).

Conclusion: This fish may represent a hazard for consumers in Algeria. Systematic and periodic controls of heavy metals in fish are recommended, and risk assessment is needed to protect the consumer. Keywords: atomic emission spectroscopy, fish, hazard, heavy metal, sardine, swordfish.

Keywords: atomic emission spectroscopy, fish, hazard, heavy metal, sardine, swordfish.

How to cite this article: Mehouel F, Bouayad L, Hammoudi AH, Ayadi O, Regad F (2019) Evaluation of the heavy metals (mercury, lead, and cadmium) contamination of sardine (Sardina pilchardus) and swordfish (Xiphias gladius) fished in three Algerian coasts, Veterinary World, 12(1): 7-11.

Received: 09-08-2018 Accepted: 19-11-2018 Published online: 02-01-2019

Corresponding author: Fetta Mehouel E-mail: fetta_mehouel@yahoo.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2019.7-11

Copyright: Mehouel, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.