POTENTIAL HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT IN TERMS OF ARSENIC CONTAMINATION RELATED TO THE CONSUMPTION OF COMMERCIALLY IMPORTANT EUROPEAN SEA BASS (Dicentrarchus labrax L., 1758)

The aquaculture of European sea bass and Gilthead sea bream has increased significantly in Turkey, especially as they are exported mostly to the EU countries. The purpose of this study is to calculate inorganic arsenic (iAs) levels through the determination of total arsenic amounts (AsT) in muscle tissues of European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax L., 1758) cultured in cages at sea and earthen ponds and wild sea bass caught from the coast of Mugla, Turkey. This study also presents a risk assessment of European sea bass consumption in terms of consumer health. For this aim, muscle tissues of fish were mineralized with microwave digestion and total arsenic concentrations were detected with the method of inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). It is found that the highest level of mean arsenic is detected in sea bass cultured in earthen ponds (0.38 mg kg-1) and the amount of mean arsenic is measured as 0.26 mg kg-1 in sea bass cultured off-shore and wild sea bass. It is revaled that there is not any negative outcome for human health as a result of risk assessments based on estimated daily intake (EDI), target hazard quotient (THQ), carcinogenic risk (CR) and lifetime cancer risk (TR).