Safety of Marine Molluscs Consumption

This study assessed the levels of five heavy metals; lead (Pb), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn) and chromium (Cr) in the soft tissues of three dominant molluscs species (Donax pulchellus, Donax rugosus and Olivancillaria hiatula) inhabiting the intertidal zone of three sandy beaches (Chorkor, Bortianor and La beach) in Accra, Ghana. The molluscs were randomly sampled at low tide between (5:30 ¿ 10:00 a.m.) from February 2016 to August, 2017 and grouped into two size classes; small (< 20 mm) and large (> 20 mm) shell length. The concentrations of heavy metals in the tissue of the molluscs were analyzed using an Atomic Emission Spectrophotometry. The concentrations of Pb, Cu, Fe, Cr, and Zn were 0.01, 0.56, 20.78, 0.22 and 1.85gkg-1, respectively, for D. pulchellus; 0.02, 0.46, 48.22, 0.59 and 9.27gkg-1, respectively, for D. rugosus and 0.02, 3.32, 5.38, 0.44 and 10.8gkg-1 respectively for O. hiatula.Fe and Zn were the most abundant while Pb was least accumulated by the molluscs.