Levels of mercury, arsenic, cadmium and lead in Northeast Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) from northern European waters.

Fillets from a total of 1245 Northeast Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) sampled in different fishing areas of the Northeast Atlantic during 2007-2016 were analysed for mercury, cadmium, arsenic and lead using ICPMS. Mercury levels varied from <0.01 to 0.36 mg/kg wet weight (ww) with a total mean of 0.046 mg/kg ww and were significantly higher in Skagerrak than in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and west of Scotland. Cadmium concentrations varied from <0.002 to 0.16 mg/kg ww with a mean value of 0.015 mg/kg ww. Only 0.24 % and 0.16 % of the sampled fish exceeded the EU's maximum levels for cadmium and mercury, respectively. Arsenic levels varied between 0.43 and 6.9 mg/kg ww with a mean value of 2.2 mg/kg ww and showed seasonal variation following variations in fat content. Lead concentrations were low and below the analytical limit of quantification (LOQ) in 97 % of the samples.

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Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Sylvia Frantzen reports financial support was provided by Norwegian Seafood Research Fund. Sylvia Frantzen reports financial support was provided by Norwegian Herring Sales Organization. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.