Dar seafood ppp standard

Recent surveys of mercury in seafood: Although methylmercury is of primary interest, surveys of contaminants in food typically only measure total mercury. However, about 95 per cent of mercury in fish is in the organic form, principally as methylmercury (Bloom 1989; Swan 1998). Mercury concentrations in most commercially harvested oceanic fish in Australia are <0.5 mg/kg methyl mercury, but larger species, predators and long-lived species tend to accumulate much higher concentrations.
Over the past two decades there have been several surveys of Australian finfish (Table 4.23), all of which have found that most seafood contains low concentrations of mercury (New South Wales Health Commission 1978; Working Group on Mercury in Fish 1979; Western Australian Food Monitoring Program 1993; Bureau of Resource Sciences 1997a and 1997b; White 1999).
In a New South Wales survey, 3/26 shark samples and 3/8 swordfish samples exceeded the 1 mg/kg (White 1999). The maximum concentration of mercury found in shark and swordfish in this survey was 2.3 mg/kg and 1.65 mg/kg, respectively. Several other recent surveys have found fish with mercury concentrations above 1 mg/kg. The 1989–1993 New South Wales health survey found that nearly 3 per cent of 1095 fish samples, all shark and swordfish, exceeded 1 mg/kg.
Canned crab, fish fillets, mussels and canned red salmon were analysed for mercury in the 19th Australian Total Diet Survey (FSANZ 2001). Levels detected (minimum, maximum, median; units mg/kg) were: canned crab (0.03, 0.07, 0.04); fish fillets (0.04, 1.30, 0.18); mussels (0.009, 0.04, 0.02); and canned red salmon (0.03, 0.05, 0.03).
Prawns, fish fillets and portions, and canned tuna were analysed for zinc in the 20th Australian Total Diet Survey (FSANZ 2003). Levels detected (minimum, maximum, median; units mg/kg) were: prawns (0.01, 0.048, 0.016); fish fillets (0.005, 0.05, 0.016); fish portions (0.042, 3.50, 0.25); and canned tuna (0.13, 0.31, 0.16).