Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Abstract

Prevalence of Veterinary Drug Residues and Heavy Metals in Catfish Nuggets

Gulnihal Ozbay, Balaji Kubandra Babu and Guoying Chen

Seafood such as catfish can sometimes become contaminated with chemicals and heavy metals at levels which would harm human health. There has been renewed interest by the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) in determining the incidence and prevalence of potentially harmful contaminants in catfish products. Many studies of retail catfish have focused on the fillet portion of the fish. Catfish nuggets are the fatty belly flap of the fish which is removed during processing and are sold as a separate product. Retail catfish nuggets from domestically raised catfish were collected in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware and then tested for the presence of chemical contaminants including the heavy metals arsenic, lead, mercury, and cadmium. Of the 24 nugget samples tested none tested positive for the presence of arsenic or lead. Cadmium was detected in nine samples, but the levels were well below the regulatory action levels indicated for seafood. Mercury was detected in one catfish sample, but again the concentration was well below the U.S. FDA action limit for methyl mercury in fish. In addition, the presence of veterinary drug residues including malachite green, gentian violet and chloramphenicol in domestic catfish nuggets was also determined. One sample tested positive for the presence of gentian violet, however, given the low level detected (1.1 ppb) it is theorized to have occurred due to post-process contamination.