Mercury rising
Mercury content was behind three supplement border rejections this month.
The first batch was seized as it made its way from Germany to Austria and Belgium. The supplements contained 0.14 mg/kg– parts per million (ppm).
Another travelling from India to Belgium via the Netherlands contained1.37 mg/kg – ppm.
A final batch from South Korea to Belgian and the Netherlands contained 826 µg/kg – ppb. The recipients of the products were informed.
There are two types of mercury: inorganic mercury and methylmercury. Inorganic mercury in food is considerably less toxic than methylmercury, which is highly toxic particularly for the nervous system.
In 2012 the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) established a tolerable weekly intake for inorganic mercury of 4 µg/kg body weight and for methylmercury of 1.3 µg/kg body weight.