Objective

The objective of this work was to determine the concentration of total mercury (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) in canned tuna, distributed in supermarkets a city Caribbean coast, Colombia.

Materials and Methods

We analyzed 160 samples from four different brands identified as A, B, C and D marketed from August to November 2017. Simple sampling by attribute was carried out monthly. The THg and MeHg were determined using a DMA-80 Direct Mercury Analysis System-Milestone and a gas chromatograph Autosystem XL Perkin Elmer.

Results

The average of THg and MeHg was 0,589 ± 0,163 and 0,536 ± 0,148 μg/g, respectively. The highest concentration of THg and MeHg in tuna was presented by the B mark (HgT: 0,792 ± 0,165, MeHg: 0,725 ± 0,127).

Conclusions

The health risk assessment due to the consumption of canned tuna, based on the estimated weekly intake (EWI), suggests that the consumption of tuna from the different brands does not associate the possibility of health risk in the group of adults of the population (GAP), when presenting values below the tolerable weekly intake (3,2 μg/kg/ week). While for the groups of children (CH) and women of childbearing age (WCHA) the consumption of canned tuna of the B brand represents a risk to health, when the tolerable weekly intake exceeds 1,6 μg/kg/ week. Therefore, continuous monitoring of Hg-T and Hg-Me in tuna is recommended.