Heavy metals and PAHs in foodstuffs and human exposure assessment: the case of Augusta area (southern Italy)

The contaminated Sites of National Interest (SNI) of Priolo (municipalities of Augusta, Melilli and Priolo) is located in the SE of Italy and considered broadly a site of high environmental risk (Martuzzi et al., 2002) and included in the National Remediation Plan (Maisano et al., 2017). This SNI hosts one of the largest and most complex petrochemical and industrial plants in Europe (in particular chloralkali plant 1958-2005) generating an uncontrolled pollution in the environment (Romano et al., 2018). Some toxic and persistent pollutants enter the food chain threating seriously to human and ecosystem health (EFSA, 2005). An alarming increase of congenital and nervous system malformations, abortions, mortality rates and cancer diseases (Zona et al., 2019) have been registered in the local population. Food, and in particular animal products, constitute the main route of exposure to different pollutants to humans, since their tissues accumulate contaminants in elevated concentration from the environment (ISTISAN, 2003; Fig. 1).