Food mercury exposure and risk assessment of the students in the campus
TONG Yin-dong1, WANG Hui1, ZHANG Wei2, DENG Chun-yan3, WANG Xue-jun3
1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China;
2. School of Environment and Natural Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China;
3. College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Mercury concentrations in the daily food (including staple food, fish, meat and vegetables) consumed in the TJU campus were investigated. Mercury levels in the hair of the volunteers were also analyzed. Total mercury (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations in foods ranged 0.57~207.50ng/g (wet weight) and 0.06~49.20ng/g (wet weight) respectively, and were lower than the previous studies. The mercury concentrations varied among foods, and higher THg and MeHg concentrations were observed in the seafood. THg and MeHg levels in the human hair ranged from 0.03~0.77 and 0.02~0.67 μg/g, respectively, and the concentrations in the males were significantly higher than the females. Dietary habits have an impact on the hair mercury concentrations. The daily mercury exposure from food consumption was 9200ng/d for males and 7500ng/d for females. Compared with the current limit of mercury exposure, the risk imposed to the campus residents were low. However, excessive consumption of seafood could still be an important source of mercury for the consumers.
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TONG Yin-dong, WANG Hui, ZHANG Wei, DENG Chun-yan, WANG Xue-jun. Food mercury exposure and risk assessment of the students in the campus. CHINA ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCECE, 2016, 36(2): 589-595.
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