The fish is good for a long series of reasons that we will not lisure here. The fish, however, is also mercury: is one of the Most widespread toxic substances in aquatic faunaand in addition to creating problems for animals, it can also do damage to us humans that we eat them.
Reducing mercury levels in the fish, therefore, is a priority for the food industry. A new study published in the magazine Global Challenges It offers a simple, effective and inexpensive method to “clean up” fish before it ends on the market.
Be careful. Mercury poisoning due to the consumption of fish is for now a concern limited to some fragile categories: in general, the amount of this substance present in the catch is not sufficient to do damage to a healthy adult (unless they consume fifth fish). THE Problems arise for children and above all pregnant women: mercury can damaging the development of the fetus nervous systemor of a child already born but still in development.
There are more “dangerous” fish from this point of view, which accumulate quantities of mercury higher than the average: the swordfishfor example, but also Mackerel and tuna. And the latter, who are absolutely the richest in Mercury, have been used as “guinea pigs” to experience the new cleaning method.
What is the trick? Developed by a team of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the “trick” provides for Add a cysteine solution to the tuna packagingan amino acid that binds very easily to mercury. In this way, The solution “absorbs” mercury from fishcleaning it: the first tests have shown an absorption capacity between 25 and 35%, numbers that can be improved by refining the method.
Method that, however, remains of a unique elegance: it is the packaging itself that “works” on fish, even when it is already on the shelves of the supermarket. The next step will be to understand How to manage mercury absorbed by cysteinesince obviously you cannot think of changing it as if it were normal garbage.
