Heavy metals contamination of bivalve harvested from the north of Guangxi gulf and potential health risk assessment for Nanning consumers

The purpose of this article was to describe the status of heavy metal pollution on the marine bivalve and assess the potential health risk from consuming contaminated bivalve in Guangxi of China. Residues of five trace metals (copper, lead, cadmium, chromium and arsenic) in bivalve samples (Crassostrea rivularis Gould, Meretrix meretrix, Perna viridis Linnaeus, Chlamys nobilis) which harvested from Guangxi Beibu Gulf were analyzed. Health risks from heavy metals to Nanning consumers from the consumption of shellfish were assessed by the Target Hazard Quotients (THQs) . Results showed that geometric mean (GM) heavy metal concentration in Crassostrea rivularis Gould and Chlamys nobilis were significantly higher than others. Copper and cadmium were the major risk factors in Crassostrea rivularis Gould with more than 62.5% and 75% samples exceed the maximum allowance. 100% of cadmium and 11.25% of chromium concentration in Chlamys nobilis didn’t pass the limit requirement. No heavy metals exceed the limit requirement in the other bivalve. According to the normal Nanning household consumption, the THQs of copper and cadmium from Crassostrea rivularis Gould and THQs of cadmium from Chlamys nobilis were 0.823, 0.759, 0.757, respectively. There was health risk from consuming large amount of Crassostrea rivularis Gould and Chlamys nobilis which lead copper, cadmium and chromium to be health hazard.