[Quantitative determination of trace metals in frozen fish, fish oil and fish meal (author's transl)].

As a contribution to the discussion on the "Verordnung uber Umweltkontaminanten" (draft) we examined 73 double samples of the frequent types of edible fish and 2 samples each of fish oil and fish meal for their content of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg). Arsenic was determined photometrically, cadmium and lead by anodic stripping voltammetry and mercury by flameless atomic absorption spectrometry. We found the following average contents (ppm): 0.84 As, 0.003 Cd, 0.08 Pb, 0.06 Hg. The limits (ppm) set up in the draft for a German "Höchstmengenverordnung" (regulation specifying the maximum concentrations allowed) were by far not reached in the case of Cd, Pb, and Hg with all samples while they were fulfilled in the case of As by only 18% of the samples. It seems that the limit for As of 0.5 ppm has been set up too low. In the average, the following proportion applies for the trace contents found: Cd:Hg:Pb:As = 1:20:27:280. Correlations between the contents of trace metals on the one hand and fishing grounds or trawler or sample piece on the other could not be found.