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Determination of total and inorganic arsenic in food

The most common reasons for the presence of arsenic in the environment are the result of human activity or geological sources. It deposits in soil, water and air and over time it accumulates in the plant and animal world and thus enters the human food chain. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) ranked arsenic in a group of carcinogenic compounds. Its toxicity depends on the chemical form in which it is present. Therefore, the health risk is estimated not only based on the concentration of total arsenic in the product but is determined by its species. In this research, fish and rice samples were analyzed for the presence of total arsenic and its species (inorganic arsenic). The amount of total arsenic was determined by ICP-MS technique and inorganic arsenic was determined by HPLC-ICP-MS technique. During 2017 and 2018, 184 fish samples and 23 rice samples and rice-based products were analyzed. The analyzed fish samples contained 0.21 to 3.82 mg/kg of total arsenic, while two samples of sharks contained arsenic in concentration of 20.2 mg/kg and 35.6 mg/kg. In the analyzed rice samples, the concentration of total arsenic ranged from 0.52 mg/kg to 1.05 mg/kg and the concentration of inorganic arsenic ranged from <0.03 to 0.28 mg/kg. All analyzed rice samples and rice-based products were rated as compliant. The maximum allowed concentration for total arsenic in fish is prescribed in some non-EU countries and is 2.0 mg/kg. In the European Union there are no legal regulations which are regulating the maximum allowed concentration of total arsenic in food. The legal regulation exists only for inorganic arsenic in rice and rice-based products. Values range from 0.10 mg/kg to 0.30 mg/kg, depending on the product type. All analyzed products, which contain total arsenic and do not have prescribed maximum allowed concentrations, must be subjected to a risk assessment to determine their safety for consumption. From the results obtained by this research, we concluded that there is a need to determine the maximum allowed concentrations of total and inorganic arsenic in fish products in order to quickly determine compliance and safety of consumption, without further risk assessment.

arsenic species ; fish ; HPLC-ICP-MS ; ICP-MS ; maximum level ; rice

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