EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT TO FOOD CONTAMINANTS ON EDIBLE FISH, CLAMS AND CRUSTACEANS IN A COASTAL ENVIRONMENT FACING A MINING AND INDUSTRIAL AREA IN SARDINIA (SULCIS-IGLESIENTE)

Abstract

The risk assessment following exposure of the local population to the consumption of fishery products caught in the Boi Cerbus lagoon, located in country of Portoscuso (Sardinia), followed the phase of sampling, analysis and data-collection “site-specific”. Overall, the fishery products samples are part of the following zoological groups: fish (grey mullets, soles and gobies), bivalve (cockles) and crustaceans (crabs). It was also agreed that further investigation were implemented in a targeted way, directing attention to critical issues that emerged from the first phase, represented by heavy metals such as Cadmium, Lead, Mercury and the (metalloid) Arsenic that, for the purposes of food safety, are still contaminants with high concern for the potential impact on human health. For the risk analysis through food intake, three different procedures for exposure assessment were considered: the regulation by law, the assessment according to US-EPA approach and the assessment according to EU harmonized method. For a wider opportunity for exposure assessment through ingestion of food from contaminated areas, also for their risk management, a single approach to the risk analysis is not be considered sufficient.

Keywords

• food-safety, heavy metals such as marine pollutants, dietary exposure assessment.