Radioactivity and heavy metal concentrations in food samples from Rize, Turkey

BACKGROUND: Rize in Turkey was contaminated by the Chernobyl accident in 1986. A comprehensive study was planned and carried out to determine the radioactivity levels and heavy metal concentrations in four food categories collected in Rize in 2008, 2009 and 2010. RESULTS: Tomato showed the highest concentration of ²³⁸U, at 9.43 ± 0.128 Bq kg^?1, whereas the lowest concentration of 0.20 ± 0.02 Bq kg^?1 was measured in aubergine samples. The highest concentration of ²³²Th was measured at 3.22 ± 0.29 Bq kg^?1 in grape samples. ⁴⁰K was found to contribute the highest activity in all the food samples. The highest activity concentration of ¹³⁷Cs was 10.20 ± 4.19 Bq kg^?1, for parsley. The average contribution range of each of the heavy metals to the dietary intake was 0.13–9.14, 0.27–34.63, 0.05–3.62, 0.11–14.97, 0.78–8.51 and 0.01–1.57 mg, respectively, for Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Ni and As. CONCLUSION: The range of radioactivity levels in food samples of the present study is of no risk to public health. Heavy metal concentrations of Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Ni and As obtained were far below the established values by FAO/WHO limits. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

Review: Assessing and managing risk due to consumption of seafood contaminated with micro-organisms, parasites, and natural toxins in the US

While most seafoods consumed in the US are wholesome, a variety of infectious agents and toxins have been implicated in disease aetiology. The major risk of acute illness is associated with consumption of raw molluscan shellfish. Most reported seafood-associated illness (55%) have unknown aetiologies; they are believed to be due mainly to Norwalk, Norwalk-like, or human enteric virus infection, with a smaller proportion caused by Vibrio bacteria. Parasites are less common than microbiological infections, with anisakids and cestodes having the greatest risks. People consuming tropically-caught fish have a risk of acquiring ciguatera poisoning. Other common natural intoxications (mainly scombroid and to a lesser extent paralytic poisonings) occur due to consumption of finfish and shellfish, respectively.
Reduction of risks from the consumption of raw molluscs and other fishery products can be achieved by the following means: research to develop valid human enteric virus indicators, implementing and maintaining proper treatment and disposal of sewage, efforts aimed at identifying and limiting the number of pathogenic Vibrio species in shellfish, developing new diagnostic methods and improved processing technologies, applying risk-based control measures for potential microbial pathogens in raw shellfish, cooking of seafoods, and proper application of a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system to processing and preparation operations of fishery products.