Page 182 - 00. Complete Version - Progress Report IPEN 2014-2016

182 Nuclear Science and Technology | Progress Report

quality, including flavor, freshness, aroma, col- Controlling seafood quality is essential to en-
or, taste and so on. The trace elements are also sure its safety for human consumption. How-
good indicators of the origin of the wine, due ever, scarce information is available about
to its direct relationship with soil composition seafood contaminant status in complex met-
and their concentrations can be used as cri- ropolitan markets in Latin America. By the Bra-
teria to ensure authenticity. There are virtu- zilian law enforcement, the presence of toxic
ally no studies that apply Instrumental Neu- elements such as As, Cd, Hg, Pb, Se and Zn in
tron Activation Analyses (INAA) specifically fish must be monitored and be below stated
in wines. Among its advantages, the analysis values prior to human consumption. But lit-
does not require large amounts or chemical tle is known about the actual dietary fish in-
treatment of the samples and the ability to take in Brazil as it may be a regionalized issue.
determine various elements with high sensi- Toxic and essential elements were determined
tivity. In this study, the concentrations of Cl, K, in some of the most consumed fish species
Mg, Mn, Na and V in seven Brazilian red wine in São Paulo city, Brazil: whitemouth croak-
freeze-dried samples from Rio Grande do Sul er (Micropogonias furnieri), smooth weakfish
were determined by Instrumental Neutron (Cynoscion leiarchus), common snook (Cen-
Activation Analysis (INAA). tropomus undecimalis) and Brazilian sardine
(Sardinella brasiliensis). These fish species are
Determination of essential and locally known in Portuguese as “corvina”, “pes-
toxic elements in marine algae by cada” “robalo”, and “sardinha”, respectively.
Neutron Activation Analysis INAA was applied for the determination of As,

Br, Co, Cs, Fe, K, Na, Rb, Se and Zn while Cd, Pb
Overtime, seaweeds have been used as food and Hg were determined by Atomic Absorp-
mainly due to their high nutritional value. tion Spectrometry. Centropomus undecimalis
This type of food is considered as function- was the only species to present element mass
al food and contributes to the nutritional hu- fractions under the limits of national and in-
man requirements, being beneficial to human ternational legislations for all elements, with
health. In this study, 13 edible seaweed sam- the exception of As results that surpassed the
ples, acquired in the marked of São Paulo city, Codex Alimentarius limits. Results for As for
were analyzed and the concentrations of ele- all the other species were above those permit-
ments As, Br, Ca, K, Fe, Mg, Mn and Na were ted by the Brazilian legislation. Nevertheless, it
determined by Instrumental Neutron Acti- cannot be affirmed that these species are tox-
vation Analysis (INAA). Cu, Cd and Pb will be ic for humans and should be avoided as most
determined by Graphite Furnace Atomic Ab- of the As in fish is in the organic form arseno-
sorption Spectrometry (GF AAS). The follow- betaine that is assumed to be of no toxicolog-
ing edible seaweeds were analyzed: Nori (Por- ical concern.
phyra umbilicates); Hijiki (Hijikia fusiforme);
Kombu (Laminaria sp.) and Wakame (Undar- Activity levels of gamma-emitters and
ia pinnatifida) species from China, USA, Japan barium concentrations in Brazil nuts
and South Korea. Hijiki specie showed to be
source of Ca and Fe while Kombu specie for K. In recent years, nutritionists have suggested
daily intake of a certain portion of Brazil nuts
Contribution to food safety assurance due to its high selenium concentration. Some
of fish consumed at São Paulo city studies have shown that the daily consump-

Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares