Journal of Food Safety and Quality

Objective To evaluate the pollution levels of five harmful heavy metals in different tissue parts and whole crabs of imported Cancer pagurus (common yellow crabs), clarify their distribution characteristics and food safety risks. Methods According to the national standard GB 5009.268—2016 National food safety standard-Determination of multielements in food, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to detect the content of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, mercury, and lead in 9 parts of Cancer pagurus liver, pancreas, crab roe, crab gills, crab body meat, crab leg meat and whole crab. The differences in heavy metal enrichment and exceedance in different parts were analyzed. Results Cadmium pollution was the most prominent, with the highest content in the liver and pancreas (up to 98.60 mg/kg) and a exceedance rate of 95.0%; arsenic was commonly detected but there was no clear limit standard, while mercury and lead only exceed the limit in inedible parts such as crab gills; the overall heavy metal content was cadmium>arsenic>mercury>lead>chromium, and the content of edible parts (crab body meat, crab leg meat) was significantly lower than that of non edible parts; the heavy metal content in whole crabs was significantly affected by highly polluted areas such as the liver and pancreas. Conclusion Imported Cancer pagurus pose a high risk of cadmium enrichment in suspected edible parts such as the liver, pancreas and gonads. It is necessary to improve the definition criteria for edible parts and establish a targeted risk assessment mechanism. It is recommended that consumers reduce their intake of highly contaminated parts. This study provides data support for optimizing the safety supervision strategy and dietary guidance of imported crustacean aquatic products.

Cancer pagurus; heavy metals; inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry; cadmium