Contribution to food safety assurance of fish consumed at Sao Paulo city by means of trace element determination

Controlling seafood quality is essential to ensure its safety for human consumption. Nevertheless, scarce information is available about seafood contaminant status in complex metropolitan markets in Latin America. Essential and toxic elements were determined in some of the most consumed fish species in Sao Paulo city, Brazil. Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis was applied for the determination of As, Br, Co, Cs, Fe, K, Na, Rb, Se and Zn while Cd, Pb and Hg were determined by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. Mass fraction results were higher than allowed values for some elements in some fish species, especially As. However, it was not possible to affirm that the fish consumed in Sao Paulo city presents risk to human health. (author)