The ability of Hg to accumulate in biological tissues might
influence the entire food chain. Mercury can be absorbed rapidly
by the human body, damaging mainly the central nervous system.
(Collasiol et al., 2004). For farm animals, European Commission
Directive 2005/8/EC permitted the maximum content of Hg
0.1 mg/kg of complete feedstuffs (Zelenka and Hedbavny, 2007).
The raw materials for the production of poultry feed are of various
origin. Nowadays, small fish are used as a source of protein in feed
of poultry. Fish fed meals could concentrate Hg to undesirable levels
if fish were collected from contaminated areas. Even low level of
Hg in poultry feed made of fish can cause Hg accumulation in their
flesh exceeding up to 0.03 mg/kg (Lindberg et al., 2004). Research
has demonstrated that absorption of nutrients from poultry feeds
via the digestive tract of chicken is relatively low, and a large
portion of trace and toxic elements including Hg may pass into their
manures (Kpomblekou et al., 2002). Experimental studies with
chickens fed fish meal revealed relatively high Hg concentrations
in their different tissues. However, some tissues accumulated more
Hg than others