Polyaromatic hydrocarbon profile and health risk assessment of popularly consumed species of fish in Remo Zone, Ogun State, South-West Nigeria

Polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds are usually introduced into foods through processing methods like smoking, grilling, etc and they have been identified as potential carcinogens. This study was aimed assessing the concentrations of PAHs and evaluating the health risk associated with consumption of 3 main fish species popularly consumed in the study area. Health risk factors like daily dietary intake (DDI), carcinogenic potencies of individual PAHs (B(A)Pteq) and the excess cancer risk (ECR) induced by dietary exposure of smoked fish consumers were examined for 16 PAHs considered as priority pollutants..  The three fish species analyzed in this study: Herring (Clupea harengus), Blue Whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) and Mackerel (Scomber scombrus) samples were extracted by liquid extraction and the concentrations of 22 selected PAHs were analyzed using GC-MS. The cumulative concentrations of PAH22 and PAH16 in the three species of fish are of the order Herring > Blue wilting > Mackerels. The results from the GC-MS analysis showed a significant difference (p<0.05) in the PAH concentration detected in the fish samples collected from the five study locations. The DDI for PAH16 in smoked Herring was found to be between 0 and 0.1277 µg/day, 0 and  0.007124 µg/day for mackerel and 0 and 0.07946 µg/day for blue whiting. Most of the ECR values obtained in this work were higher than the 10-5 guideline and this calls for intense monitoring.