Nutritional Analysis of Copper In Squid and In Ox Liver

We sent food samples of two foods that are supposed to be high in copper: squid and Ox liver.

We were shocked by how low the copper levels were in the foods tested.

You can see the official reports by clicking on the links below.

Sainsbury's squid (frozen, uncooked): 0.168mg / 100grams

Sainsbury's squid (boiled, cooked from frozen): 0.189mg / 100grams

Sainsbury's chilli squid (bought pre-cooked, ready to eat): <0.06mg / 100grams

Mark's and Spencer's squid (bought pre-cooked, ready to eat): 0.313mg / 100grams

Ox liver (Coombe farm, Organic, frozen, uncooked): 0.535mg / 100grams

This is very different from the copper levels you would expect from looking at the nutritional data tables. You can click the values to go to the original source of information (USDA Food Data Central):

Copper content of Ox liver: 9.76mg / 100grams

Copper content of squid: 1.89mg / 100grams

In case you were wondering whether perhaps the lab made a mistake, we did indeed double check with them. We thought this may have been a possibility because the difference in order of magnitude is almost exactly 10 times in some cases. They said the results are accurate.

The testing company we used is called Eurofins Scientific. Eurofins Scientific is a worldwide laboratory testing company with 62,000 staff members.