Skip to content
Research Article Open access CC BY 4.0

Effects of Roasting and Frying on the Proximate Composition, Mineral Content and Health Risks Due to Heavy Metals in Ethmalosa fimbriata (Bowdich, 1825)

Ngock Elisa Christelle, Nsoga Jean Valery François, Nchoutpouen Ngafon Merlin, Tuem Somon Régine, Ekwala Misse Ngangue Roland Jethro, Manz Koule Jules Christophe, Ndomou Mathieu

Biotechnology Journal International · pp. 42–54 · Published 24 Sep 2025

10.9734/bji/2025/v29i5794

Abstract

Aims: Effects of roasting and frying on the proximate composition, mineral content, and health risks due to heavy metals in Ethmalosa fimbriata were assessed. Place and duration of study: Food Science Laboratory of the University of Douala and Douala Foodstuffs Laboratory (Cameroon) between February and June 2025. Methodology: Fresh fish were purchased at the fishing port market of Douala and transported to the laboratory. After several washes, the fish were separated into three batches. One batch was analyzed fresh and the other two batches after frying and roasting. Proximate composition, mineral contents and heavy metals were analyzed by AOAC methods. Estimated Daily Intake (EDI), Targeted Hazard Quotient (THQ), Hazard Index (HI) and Carcinogenic Risk (CR) were assessed to estimate human health risk. Results: Roasting and frying increased proteins, ashes, energy values and some minerals such as Ca, P, K and Na levels in fish. A significant (p<0.05) drop in lipid contents was noted with roasting compared to fresh and fried fish samples. Moisture, carbohydrates and minerals such as Zn, Cu and Mn decreased with roasting and frying. Both methods increased significantly Cd, Pb, Hg, As, EDI, HI and CR compared to fresh samples. Roasting increased significantly heavy metals and health risk compared to frying. EDI values of all heavy metals studied were below acceptable limits while THQ of mercury in roasted and fried samples were above acceptable limits for human consumption. HI from roasted and fried samples suggested a non-potential carcinogenic effect while CR for cadmium suggested a carcinogenic risk. Conclusion: This study shows that E. fimbriata has good nutritional quality, but is subjected to the increase of metal residues during roasting and frying, leading to consumer’s health risks. Frying presents the lowest risk for consumption compared to roasting. It is therefore important to continuously monitor toxicological quality of fish from the Cameroonian coast.

Roasting frying Ethmalosa fimbriata heavy metals health risk assessment

Cited by 0

No indexed citations yet.

Article metrics

Real usage data collected on this platform.

0

Page views

0

PDF downloads

0

Outbound clicks

0

Citations

Views by country

Approximate, from request IP at view time — not citizenship or institution. Countries with fewer than 5 views are grouped as "Other".

No views recorded yet.

Traffic sources

Referring site, by host.

No traffic recorded yet.

Views and downloads exclude known bots/crawlers. Citations combines this platform's own DOI-resolved index with each external source's own reported total — see Cited by above for individually listed citing works. Last refreshed 0 seconds ago.