Perchlorate and iodide concentrations were
determined in brown (
Undaria pinnatifida
and
Laminaria japonica
) and red (
Porphyra
sp.) edible seaweeds, which
are commonly consumed by Korean people, with the use of
ion chromatography, coupled with a tandem mass spectrometer.
Seaweeds (i.e., good sources of iodine) are
among the most important plant life in the ocean and
commonly consumed as food and nutritional supplement in
South Korea. All seaweed samples were purchased from
different regions in South Korea. The detected concentrations
of perchlorate were as follows: 19.7–620.7 μg kg
-1
dry weight (
n = 11, mean concentration = 149.2 μg kg
-1
dry weight) for
L. japonica and 7.3–21.7 μg kg
-1 dry
weight (mean concentration = 10.6 g kg
-1 dry weight)
for
U. pinnatifida. Of the 11 samples of
Porphyra sp., only
1 sample showed 6.7 μg kg
-1 dry weight perchlorate. The
concentrations of iodide in all seaweed samples varied from
0.44 to 6,800 mg kg
-1 dry weight.
L. japonica samples
(
n = 11) had significantly higher iodide concentrations,
with a mean of 5,261 mg kg
-1 dry weight. The bioconcentration
factor values for perchlorate and iodide in the
three different seaweeds varied widely and showed similar
variation trends. The trend for perchlorate and iodide was
Porphyra sp.<
U. pinnatifida<
L. japonica. The results
have provided growing evidence that perchlorate frequently
occurs in food products.
