Tuna fish is a source of more essential nutrients, contains vitamins and minerals, and is rich in unsaturated omega- 3 fatty acids. Therefore, fish are considered as healthy and good quality food. However, research shows that in addition to all benefits that consumption of tuna meat shows, tuna also contain large quantities of heavy metals that can potentially threaten human health. Arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury are toxic elements, which are often accumulated in fish meat. The European Commission has therefore set maximum concentration limits for heavy metals in document: No 1881/2006. The limit for total mercury is 1 mg/kg of tuna, lead is 0.3 mg/kg of tuna and for cadmium is 0.1 mg/kg of tuna. According to studies, in most samples, maximal allowed quantities in fish meat were not exceeded. Samples, which contained excessive concentrations of heavy metals, were obtained from fish caught in a polluted and volcanic active area. Research has confirmed the correlation between the fish size and the accumulation of heavy metals. According to literature data, a higher concentration of heavy metals was detected in adult fish. Despite the fact that toxic elements in the tuna are detected below the limit, researchers recommend moderate consumption of fish meat in order to avoid excess of tolerable weekly intake.
|
