Optimization of mercury determination in seafood in the conduct of sanitary and hygienic research in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation

Abstract

The questions of sample preparation and determination of mercury content in fish and seafood (freshwater and ocean fish, shrimp and algae) by atomic absorption spectroscopy by the «cold steam» method are considered. Comparison of results obtained with the mercury analyzer «Yulia-5K» (Russia) and the «NOVAA-300» spectrometer equipped with the «HS-55» mercury-hydride attachment (Germany) is compared. A slight excess of the results obtained using the «Yulia-5K» analyzer was revealed. Taking into account that all analyzed products contain highly stable organic compounds, such as arsenobetaines, which cannot be mineralized in the microwave system «MС-6», an explanation of this phenomenon is given. It lies in the fact that non-minimized vapors of organic compounds can be carried away with a mercury vapor through a mixture of mineralized and tin dichloride gas stream into a measuring cuvette, resulting in a slightly overestimated value of optical density. If device does not have a non-selective absorption correction function, the mercury content values will also be too high. To minimize the effect of residual organic substances on the measurement result, it is proposed to use sorbents with a highly developed surface, for example, diatomaceous earth, instead of silica gel. However, the elimination of signal distortion caused by the presence of organic compounds in the analyzed sample, even in this case will be incomplete. On the other hand, the deuterium corrector of non-selective absorption of the «NOVAA-300» spectrometer completely eliminates the additive contribution of organic compounds, which results in a smaller and, apparently, more reliable values of the mercury content in the samples. The use of these proposals for the stage of sample preparation, during the measurements and when interpreting the results obtained, improves the quality control of fish and seafood.

Keywords

military nutrition / army food supply servicemen’s food / fish / seafood / mercury / toxicity / atomic absorption methods of determination / «cold steam» method / sample preparation

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