More than 36% of school menus included fish with a high content of harmful impurities.

More than 36% of school menus analyzed in 2022 included fish high in a mercury compound, which scientific evidence poses as a “relevant chemical risk” to health.

“Of the menus analyzed, 36.1% contained fish high in MeHg. [metilmercúrio]which equates to 5.5% of the total fishmeal provided in these schools, according to the General Directorate of Health’s 2022 National Program for the Promotion of Healthy Nutrition (PNPAS) report released this Friday.

Last year, PNPAS analyzed the supply of fish in food available in schools through an assessment of the monthly menu plans of 133 municipalities.

The results showed that fish species with “high methylmercury content” were mainly lin (47.7%), blue shark (24.6%), shark shark (9.2%), swordfish (7.7 %), cardinal (6.2%) and swordfish (4.6%). ),” the document says.

“While there is still little evidence regarding the risk-benefit analysis of fish consumption in childhood, and although some fish species are susceptible to MeHg contamination, research confirms the importance of fish consumption due to its benefits, but it is important to reduce the risks by avoiding the fish species mentioned above. that have higher levels of this pollutant,” the document also warns.

In the chapter of the report on the analysis of the fish supply in a school context, the DGS also mentions that the consumption of larger fish with a longer lifespan, such as shark, cardinal, swordfish, tench, swordfish, blue shark, “may pose a risk health to the extent that it may contribute to human exposure to methylmercury.”

It is a mercury compound whose “evidence [prova] scientific evidence suggests that this poses an appropriate chemical risk to public health,” the report also highlights, adding that in populations with high fish intake, prenatal and childhood exposure to MeHg “appears to be associated, among other things, with neurotoxicity in the fetus and impaired psychomotor development in children.

“Because it is well documented that the greatest susceptibility to MeHg occurs early in life, minimizing MeHg exposure is especially important and possible, namely through fish selection and frequency of consumption,” promotes PNPAS.

In the schools of the analyzed municipalities, 46.8% of the food was fish, and canteens provided an average of nine fish dishes per month.

“Each municipality provided an average of six different types of fish per month in school meals and two oily fish dishes, with only 11% of the menus analyzed meeting the recommendation to provide oily fish once a week,” the report said.

In the analyzed school menus, hake (24.4%), tuna (16.2%) and salmon (14.4%) were supplied most often.

PNPAS is one of the 12 priority national health programs developed under the National Health Plan (PNS) and aims to improve the health status of the Portuguese population by influencing one of its main determinants, nutrition.