Detection of shellfish toxins from scallops in Guangzhou seafood market

ABSTRACT

To evaluate scallop safety in the Guangzhou seafood market, contents of shellfish toxins in adductor muscle, mantle skirts, gills and visceral mass of scallops were examined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and mouse unit assay. The results showed that paralytic shellfish poisoning contents were up to 37.44 µg/100 g by ELISA and 319.99 MU/100 g by mouse unit assay, which did not exceed the limits of national standards (80 µg/100g and 400 MU/100 g); the contents of diarrhetic shellfish poisoning were 142.04 µg/100g and 0.2 MU/100 g, which exceeded the national standard limits (60 µg/100g); neurotoxic shellfish poisoning was undetectable; the contents of amnesic shellfish poisoning reached 220.12 µg/100g (no limit value could be referred to) . In addition, these poisons were present mainly in visceral mass and gills rather than adductor muscle and mantle skirts, suggesting that these toxins accumulate in a tissue-specific manner.(AU)