Full nutritional spectrum and hazard risk assessment of high commodity value aquaculture species in Penang, Malaysia

Aquaculture is a rapidly growing food production sector that aims to alleviate global hunger, malnutrition, food security and nutrient deprivation. This study aimed to update the full spectrum of nutritional composition using aquaculture species. High commodity value aquaculture species in Penang, Malaysia have been shortlisted, followed by nutritional quantification and health risk estimation. Nutritional compositional analysis involved proximate analysis, and amino acid, fatty acid, vitamin, mineral and heavy metal quantification. Health risk assessment was conducted to determine whether the benefits were greater than the risks in the long term. Ten (10) aquaculture species, namely golden pomfret, golden snapper, seabass, bigeye trevally, red snapper, grouper, African catfish, blood cockles, white-leg shrimp and tiger prawn, have been studied extensively. The results showed that all species contained adequate protein and lipid contents, ranging from 13.6 % to 26.9 % and 0.4–15.8 %, respectively. The essential amino acid (EAA) to total amino acid (TAA) ratio of the culture species was comparable to the FAO reference values (50 %), with leucine and lysine demonstrating the most important EAAs. Fatty acid profiling revealed that both seabass and grouper were rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, particularly docosahexaenoic acid. Golden pomfret and red snapper contained the greatest amounts of riboflavin and pyridoxine. The atherogenic and thrombogenic indices were within the permissible ratio (<1), except for those of African catfish. Notably, the arsenic (As) content in blood cockles exceeded the permissible criterion values. Hazard index (HI) assessment indicated that prolonged consumption of blood cockles, white-leg shrimp, tiger prawn, bigeye trevally and golden snapper demonstrated potent non-carcinogenic risk for both adults and children. This study provides an initial platform for informing consumers, stakeholders and policy makers about aquaculture nutritional benefits, consumption safety concern and health indicators.