Concentration of heavy metals in canned tuna fish and probabilistic health risk assessment in Iran

Heavy metals are the most considerable pollutants of marine organisms due to their toxic and cumulative properties. The heavy metal (lead: Pb, cadmium: Cd, mercury: Hg, and tin: Sn) contents were examined in 92 samples of canned tuna from the market in eight Iranian cities using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. In addition, the estimated daily intake (EDI), hazard quotient (HQ) and total hazard quotient (THQ) were calculated. None of the tested samples exceeded the Iran National Standards Organization (INSO) and Codex limits for Cd and Sn. The amount of Pb in the samples from the city of Qom exceeded the allowable limit. HQ percentile 95% of heavy metal for Sn, Hg, Pb, and Cd was equal to 0.0096, 0.185, 0.0099 and 0.0021, respectively. The HQ and THQ was lower than one for all tested heavy metals suggesting that health risk associated with the consumption of canned tuna in major cities of Iran is negligible. Due to the fact that in some samples, and especially that the samples collected from a particular city have a higher level of heavy metals than the standard limits, it is recommended authorities take more control measures to maintain public health.