Aluminium levels of fish fillets baked and grilled in aluminium foil

During storage and preparation of food, aluminium foil is often used for wr apping heat-sensitive raw food for protection against direct heat, e.g. gri lled or baked fish fillets. In this investigation the aluminium contents of grilled and baked fish fillets with and without ingredients wrapped in alu minium foil were determined. The selected fish species were mackerel (Scomb er scombrus L.), a fatty species, ocean perch (Sebastes spp.), a medium fat ty species, and cod (Gadus morhua) and saithe (Pollachius virens), two lean fish species. The wrapped fillets were baked for approximately 20 min at 2 00 degreesC in an oven, either without ingredients or, alternatively, with vinegar and sodium chloride added. In another experiment one part of a fill et was grilled over charcoal without ingredients and the other part was gri lled with onion rings and mixed spices added. All aluminium concentrations of both baked and grilled fillets wrapped in aluminium foil increased durin g heating. The increase in aluminium concentration ranged from a factor of 2 (baked saithe fillets without ingredients from 0.10 up to 0.21 mg/kg) to a factor of 68 (grilled mackerel fillets with ingredients from 0.07 up to 5 .04 mg/kg). The aluminium contents of grilled fillets were higher than thos e of baked fillets. Presumably two factors were responsible for the higher aluminium contents in grilled fillets: first the higher temperature of prep aration when grilling fillets and second the high aluminium content of mixe d spices (63.5 mg Al/kg), which may be taken up in part by the grilled fill ets. Ail results clearly showed that some aluminium migrated from the alumi nium foil into the food. The aluminium migration seems to depend on several factors, e.g. the duration and the temperature of heating, the composition and the pH-value of food, the presence of any other substances (such as or ganic acids and salt) and complexing reactions that result in dissolution o f the complexed metal. Considering the present state of knowledge and the s uggested provisional tolerable daily intake of 1 mg Al/kg bodyweight per da y of the [World Health Organisation, 1989], no risk to health of the consum er would to be expected from eating meals prepared in aluminium foil. (C) 2 001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.