Risk assessment of toxic residues among some freshwater and marine water fish species

Mohamed A Hussein; Nanis S Morsy; Abdallah F Mahmoud; Wageh S Darwish; Mohamed T Elabbasy; František Zigo; Zuzana Farkašová; Ibrahim F Rehan

doi:10.3389/fvets.2023.1185395

Risk assessment of toxic residues among some freshwater and marine water fish species

Front Vet Sci. 2023 Jul 25:10:1185395. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1185395. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Mohamed A Hussein¹, Nanis S Morsy¹, Abdallah F Mahmoud¹, Wageh S Darwish¹, Mohamed T Elabbasy², František Zigo³, Zuzana Farkašová³, Ibrahim F Rehan^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Food Control Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.
² College of Public Health and Molecular Diagnostics and Personalized Therapeutics Center (CMDPT), Hail University, Hail, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Nutrition and Animal Husbandry, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, Košice, Slovakia.
⁴ Department of Husbandry and Development of Animal Wealth, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin Alkom, Egypt.
⁵ Department of Pathobiochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Meijo University Yagotoyama, Nagoya, Japan.

Abstract

Egypt has several beaches, as well as the Nile River and a few lakes; therefore, it could compensate for the lack of protein in red meat with fish. Fish, however, may become a source of heavy metal exposure in humans. The current study was to assess the level of five toxic metals, lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), arsenic (As), and aluminum (Al), in six species, namely, Oreochromis niloticus (O. niloticus), Mugil cephalus (M. cephalus), Lates niloticus (L. niloticus), Plectropomus leopardus (P. leopardus), Epinephelus tauvina (E. tauvina), and Lethrinus nebulosus (L. nebulosus), collected from the El-Obour fish market in Egypt. The residual concentrations of the tested toxic metals in the examined O. niloticus, M. cephalus, L. niloticus, E. tauvina, P. leopardus, and L. nebulosus species were found to be higher than the European Commission's maximum permissible limits (MPL) for Pb and Cd by 10 and 20%, 15 and 65%, 75 and 15%, 20 and 65%, 15 and 40%, and 25 and 5%. In contrast, 30% of L. niloticus exceeded the MPL for Hg. It was shown that the average estimated daily intake (EDI) and the target hazard quotient (THQ) in fish samples are below safety levels for human consumption and hazard index (HI < 1). From the human health point of view, this study showed that there was no possible health risk to people due to the intake of any studied species under the current consumption rate in the country.

Keywords: Egypt; arsenic; cadmium; daily intakes; fish; lead; mercury; risk assessment index.

Grants and funding

This study was funded by Project KEGA No. 009UVLF-4/2021: Innovation and implementation of new knowledge of scientific research and breeding practice to improve the teaching of foreign students on the subject of animal husbandry.