Exposure of man to mercury: a review. II. Contamination of food and analytical methods
Man is exposed to mercury through every facet of his life, however, for the average citizen the most probable source of toxic levels of mercury would be his food supply. Although most foods contain less than 0.02 ppm mercury, considerable variation occurs depending on the type of food, production techniques, and location. Mercury is concentrated at higher trophic levels of food chains, particularily in aquatic food chains in which concentration factor of hundreds and thousands have been observed. The concentration of mercury in some large fish has been found to exceed the 0.5 ppm tolerance limit of the FDA and the 1.0 ppm limit of the Swedish government. Fifty-seven grams of fish containing 0.5 ppm mercury in the methyl form could be consumed daily without exceeding the joint FAO/WHO recommended weekly tolerable intake of 0.2 mg. In the US, Sweden, and Japan the per capita daily fish consumptions are 18, 56, and 88 g, respectively. Determination of mercury concentrations generally involves colorimetric, atomic absorption or emission spectrometry, neutron activation, or gas chromatography techniques. The sample preparations are often time consuming, subject to numerous sources of error, and complicated by the low concentrations of mercury. Differentiation of mercury compounds usually necessitates selective extraction followed by gas chromatographic analysis. 256 references, 5 tables.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
- OSTI ID:
- 5935687
- Journal Information:
- J. Milk Food Technol.; (United States), Vol. 38:6
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
MERCURY
BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION
HEALTH HAZARDS
TOXICITY
ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY
ACTIVATION ANALYSIS
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FOOD
FOOD CHAINS
GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY
MAN
MEASURING METHODS
QUANTITY RATIO
REVIEWS
ANIMALS
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CHROMATOGRAPHY
DOCUMENT TYPES
ECOSYSTEMS
ELEMENTS
HAZARDS
MAMMALS
MASS TRANSFER
METALS
PRIMATES
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SPECTROSCOPY
VERTEBRATES
510200* - Environment
Terrestrial- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)
520200 - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)
560306 - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology- Man- (-1987)