ABSTRACT
The safety consumption of marine green-lipped mussels, Perna viridis is of much concern as it is a popular seafood among Malaysians. However, the permissible limits set for copper (Cu; 30.0 mg/kg wet weight) and lead (Pb; 2.00 mg/kg wet weight) by food standards, are mainly based on total metal concentrations rather than the potential bioavailability concentrations to consumers. Therefore, a simulation of the insoluble and soluble fractions method was carried out on the different tissues of the mussels from the three sites of Peninsular Malaysia to estimate the potential bio-availabilities of Cu and Pb in the tissues which could potentially toxic to the consumers. This study depicts a clearer estimation of the Cu and Pb concentrations that were bioavailable to the consumers represented by the soluble fractions present in different tissues of the mussels. Based on the seven edible tissues in the mussels, the soluble fractions were as follow: 2.22 to 48.92 (in %?) for Cu, and 3.69 to 47.37% for Pb. This study hopes to introduce a new estimation method to evaluate the maximum permissible limits of food standards for metals, o reduce inaccuracy during the assessment processes.
