Levels of heavy metals in canned bonito, sardines, and mackerel produced in Turkey.

Concentrations of selected metals were determined using ICP-MS in canned bonito, sardines and mackerel commercialized in Turkey. Thirty samples and two different brands were sampled for each fish species. The minimum and maximum concentrations of trace metals in canned bonito, sardines and mackerel were found as 0.000-34.742, 0.000-89.015, 0.000-28.725 mg/kg for iron, 2.388-26.620, 10.930-41.340, 4.778-29.270 mg/kg for zinc, 0.331-1.548, 0.599-2.242, 0.336-2.884 mg/kg for copper, 0.000-0.065, 0.000-0.113, 0.000-0.115 mg/kg for cadmium, 0.000-0.190, 0.000-0.158, 0.000-0.385 mg/kg for tin, 0.000-0.111, 0.000-0.223, 0.000-0.208 mg/kg for mercury and 0.000-3.046, 0.000-2.875, 0.000-3.529 mg/kg for lead, respectively. These levels are similar those found in other studies. Although the samples have concentrations within permissible limits for Zn, Cu, Sn and Hg, some of them contained Fe, Cd and Pb above these limits. Periodical controls of metals in canned fish are essential both to protect human health and to provide data on this subject.