Analysis of Se contents in fishes according to type and country using INAA‐method

Se is an essential micro‐mineral and antioxidant protecting from the free radical induced lipid peroxidation. However, there are little reports on the Se nutritional state of Koreans because of deficient Se database on foods. Furthermore, accuracy of existing data is questionable because they were analysed by AAS or ICP methods, which are known to cause Se loss during pre‐treatment process. This study was aimed to evaluate Se contents in edible portion of fishes by INAA method. The most frequently consumed fishes by Korean were selected. To minimize contamination, all the instruments and storage tools were used after washing with HNO3. Each food samples were individually mixed using homogenizer made with titanium. The homogenized food samples of 10~20g were freeze‐dried at temperature of–60 C for 24~96 h and used to analyze Se contents by INAA‐method. Analytical quality control was conducted using NIST SRMs. The analysis limit of Se in foods by INAA was 0.01ppm. Se contents in fish and fish products were in the range of 1.5~0.07ug. The Se contents were various according to the fish type and country. The Se contents in 1g edible portion of fishes were in crustacea 0.9~1.5 ug, shellfish 0.09~0.71ug, fish products 0.11~0.71ug, echinoderms 0.35~0.39ug, blue‐back & white fishes 0.12~0.61ug, and mollusks, 0.17~0.36ug. This result can be used in establishing the food Se database for Koreans.