ABSTRACT

This study investigates the biosafety of smoked elephant-snout fish (Mormyrus rume), a freshwater fish species sold in the major market of New Bussa, Niger State, Nigeria. Smoked samples of elephant-snout fish (Mormyrus rume) were purchased from the Monday market. The muscles were filleted into sterile plastic containers, and processed for their nutritional quality and heavy metals analysis. Data obtained for the nutrients and heavy metals compositions were subjected to statistical analysis. The results show that the sampled fish is highly rich in nutrients. The results revealed the presence of moisture content with an average mean of 3.80 ± 0.17%, ash content 8.80± 0.30% while the crude fiber was low with an average mean of 0.02 ± 0.01%. The average mean value of crude protein was higher at 54.88± 0.40%, Nitrogen Free Extract (NFE) of 24.78 ± 0.43%, and crude fat of 8.80 ± 0.46%. Heavy metals concentrations in elephant-snout fish ranged from Fe, 337.94 ± 66.88; Zn, 93.84 ± 7.37; Cu, 3.35 ± 1.46; Co, 0.93 ± 0.18; Pb, 0.26 ± 0.08; Ni, 0.03 ± 0.00; while Cd and Cr are Below Detectable Limit  (BDL) of the machine. It was further observed that metal bioaccumulation followed the sequence of Fe > Zn > Cu > Co > Pb > Ni; with levels of essential elements higher than non-essential elements. However, smoked Elephant snoutfish sold in New Bussa is safe for human consumption as the samples contained low concentrations of nonessential metals with little or no biological relevance.