Hema Sablefish at Center of Child Mercury Poisoning Case

A two-year-old boy in Shanghai has been clinically diagnosed with mercury poisoning after his parents fed him a Hema (盒马) store-brand “children’s pack” sablefish product for roughly eight months, according to The Paper. The case, disclosed by the boy’s mother on social media and followed by a second, near-identical report from Hangzhou, has ignited a national debate over heavy-metal contamination in seafood and the marketing of high-mercury deep-sea fish as food for young children.

A September 23 blood test at Xinhua Hospital, affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, recorded the child’s blood mercury level at 27.87 μg/L — far above the normal reference value of under 10 μg/L. The child was diagnosed with mercury poisoning and admitted for chelation treatment to remove the metal from his body.

The Product and the Two Cases

The product at issue is sold under the name “Hema MSC-certified peeled and deboned Antarctic sablefish children’s pack” and, in a second variant, “Hema MSC-certified peeled and deboned Antarctic sablefish blocks.” According to 100ec, the Shanghai mother said her child ate the fish two to three times a week, averaging about 110 grams weekly, over roughly eight months. She said she believed “silver cod” (银鳕鱼) was simply a premium variety of cod and only learned later that it is a large, top-of-the-food-chain species in which methylmercury accumulates.

A second family in Hangzhou reported a strikingly similar experience. According to a separate 100ec report, parent Li said her two-year-old consumed the same product from December 30, 2025, to the end of August 2026 — buying 21 bags at 118 yuan per 180 grams — averaging more than 110 grams a week. Her child’s blood mercury test returned 27.78 μg/L, more than five times the level doctors advise keeping below. That child is also receiving chelation treatment in Shanghai.

The Producer’s Response

The producer, Qingdao Meichu Food Co. (青岛美厨食品有限公司), told The Paper it is verifying the product and has dispatched staff to handle the matter directly with the family. It provided a test report showing the batch’s methylmercury content at 0.21 mg/kg — well below China’s national limit of 1.0 mg/kg for carnivorous fish — and said the product therefore “meets national standard requirements.”

On the “children’s pack” labeling, the producer said the term was never intended to claim the product is “infant-specific food,” but rather reflects its physical form and convenience: peeled, deboned, and sold in small individually wrapped pieces to make meal preparation easier and reduce fish-bone risk. Hema’s platform customer service said it would relay the issue to relevant departments, adding that whether mercury exceeds limits requires tracing the specific batch.

Why Experts Say the Concern Is Real

A detailed analysis by science commentator Leng Zhe of iBio (极萨学院), published on Tencent News, found the exposure math compelling. Converting the producer’s own 0.21 mg/kg figure, the child’s weekly intake of 110 grams works out to roughly 23.1 μg of methylmercury per week. Using the FDA’s reference body weight of about 13.4 kg for a two-year-old, that is approximately 1.72 μg per kilogram of body weight per week — at or above the JECFA provisional tolerable weekly intake of 1.6 μg/kg and well above the stricter EFSA figure of 1.3 μg/kg.

“Even using the manufacturer’s own 0.21 mg/kg figure, this child’s long-term intake roughly reached or exceeded the internationally used long-term methylmercury intake levels,” Leng wrote. He stressed, however, that a single blood-mercury report cannot establish definitive causation, noting other environmental sources cannot be excluded from public information alone.

Methylmercury’s half-life in the human body is about 70 days, so repeated frequent intake causes accumulation. It binds to cysteine and crosses the blood-brain barrier, making it especially damaging to the developing nervous system. Doctors reportedly told parents the neurological damage may be irreversible.

The ‘Silver Cod’ Naming Trap

A central problem is the name itself. As Leng noted, “silver cod” is a commercial, not biological, term and does not refer to true cod. The species involved is Antarctic toothfish (南极犬牙鱼), family Nototheniidae — a large, long-lived deep-sea predator. Such fish occupy the top of the food chain, where methylmercury bioaccumulates and magnifies. FDA data place related Patagonian toothfish, marketed as Chilean sea bass, at an average mercury concentration of about 0.35 mg/kg, classified a “Good Choice” rather than a “Best Choice.”

Science Popularization China (科普中国) has previously stated that silver cod’s methylmercury content sits at the mid-to-upper range among edible fish and is unsuitable for infants, toddlers, and pregnant women. Critically, MSC certification — which the product prominently displays — concerns fishery sustainability and supply-chain traceability. It is not a low-mercury certification and does not imply the fish is suitable for young children.

A Regulatory Gap

Experts argue the case exposes a structural weakness: China’s food-safety standards do not specifically define or classify “children’s food.” A product meeting general food standards may legally label itself a “children’s pack.” The national methylmercury limit of 1.0 mg/kg under GB 2762-2022 is largely based on general adult population exposure, not the per-body-weight exposure of toddlers.

The producer’s two statements — that 0.21 mg/kg meets the national standard, and that “children’s pack” does not equal infant food — “can each stand on their own, but they do not truly answer the core dispute,” Leng wrote, questioning whether a product labeled “children’s pack” and marketed to parents on high-DHA, high-nutrition grounds may mislead consumers.

Broader Food-Safety Record

The episode has also drawn attention to Hema’s broader quality-control record, catalogued by 100ec. In January 2026, a Beijing consumer received toxic narcissus bulbs instead of fresh lily through a Hema order, poisoning two family members. In June 2026, Zhejiang regulators found Hema-linked snow peas and peppers with pesticide residues severely exceeding limits. Hema has also been fined for false advertising and repeatedly cited over foreign objects and expired goods. According to the consumer-complaint platform 电诉宝, Hema ranked first among fresh-grocery e-commerce platforms by complaint volume in 2026.

What’s Next

The product remained on normal sale at the time of reporting, and no formal regulatory investigation or recall had been publicly announced. The Hangzhou parent said a Hema store initially offered a refund plus 888 yuan in compensation, which she rejected.

Beyond any single batch, the case raises a systemic question: when a company markets a product as a “children’s pack,” should it not also carry an obligation to assess risk for its target consumers — and to flag it with the same prominence used to attract parents? For China’s regulators, the case may sharpen pressure to build a tiered risk-assessment and labeling system for children as a special population. For now, the children’s recovery and the question of accountability remain open.