నైరూప్య

Risk assessment of heavy metals associated with food consumption in Egypt: A pilot study.

Asmaa Bayoumi Issa, Khaled Yasin, Naglaa Loutfy, Mohamed Tawfic Ahmed*

Residues of some heavy metals (HM) were monitored in vegetable, fruit and fish samples collected from local markets of Tanta and Ismailia cities, Egypt. The acidic digested samples were measured on Inductive Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Samples of vegetables and fruits collected from the vicinity of main roads had some higher levels than other samples. In case of catfish, HMs were monitored only in Tanta region since this fish species is not consumed much in Ismailia city. The mean values detected were 5.38, 0.62, 85.96, 6.41 and 55.05 mg/kg for Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd and Mn, respectively. Target hazard quotient (THQ) values were higher than unity for all metals at 50th and 90th percentile of ingestion. Meanwhile, hazard Index (HI) showed the following order: Cd?Mn?Cu?Zn?Pb. The present study indicated that the repetitive consumption of particular type fish might pose some undesirable health effects. The study also emphasized the need for regular monitoring program beside the need for awareness raising about the food contamination with heavy metals.