Corbicula fluminea serves as traditional food to the local people in Kelantan, Malaysia. Concerns regarding river contamination, smoking method, and associated adverse effects on public health had been increasing. Hence, this study aims to measure the level of heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn) and assess human health risk in C. fluminea consumption at Kelantan. Heavy-metal analysis was done using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry, while human health risk was assessed using provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI), target hazard quotient (THQ), and hazard index (HI). The estimated weekly intake (EWI) for all metals was found within PTWI, while THQ for Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn was 0.12, 0.06, 0.04, 0.41, and 0.03, respectively. The HI was calculated at 0.61 which is less than 1, considered as the safe consumption level. Therefore, C. fluminea consumption in this study was found safe from the health risk of noncarcinogenic effect over a lifetime.

“Etak” or Corbicula fluminea, is a freshwater mollusc species regularly consumed as a popular snack among the Kelantanese in Malaysia. The “etak” is usually heated with traditional smoking process which is considered as half cooked and the smoked C. fluminea is commonly known as “etak salai”. This study focuses on the potential of Leucas zeylanica leaves extract to eliminate the bacteria content in “etak salai”. Extraction of bacterial genomic DNA was performed and confirmed the existence of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) in “etak salai”. Antibacterial properties of L. zeylanica leaves extract was identified using disc diffusion assay and the result obtained exhibit that 70 μg/μL of L. zeylanica extract was the optimum concentration to give the effect of 11 mm inhibition zone for E. coli and 15 mm inhibition zone for S. aureus. This finding proof that L. zeylanica leaves could be the ingredients in the paste for “etak salai” preparation.

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High population density and economic development attributing to the changes in water quality in Pa Sak River, Lopburi River, and Mekong River have attracted great attention. This research aimed to determine the pollution of heavy metals in collected clams at three different study sites. Bioaccumulation of heavy metals in Asian clam (Corbicula fluminea) may be likely to cause serious health effects on human beings. The clams sampled from three different rivers (Mekong, Pa Sak, and Lopburi) from Thailand were analyzed for the presence of heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Cd, Cr, Mn, and Pb) with an air-acetylene flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). Among the heavy metals studied, Zn was recorded as having the highest concentration (127.33-163.65 μg/g) among the three rivers. The observed mean concentration of Cu was in the range of 84.61-127.15 μg/g followed by Mn (13.96-100.63 μg/g), Cr (5.79-15.00 μg/g), Pb (3.43-8.55 μg/g), and Cd (0.88-1.95 μg/g). Overall, Asian clam from Pa Sak River was found to contain high concentrations of Zn, Cu, Cd, Cr, and Pb compared to Mekong and Lopburi River.

Corbicula fluminea, known as “etak” in Kelantan, Malaysia is a freshwater bivalve. This clam is widely consumed as traditional snack by the locals. However, lately there are numerous reports in local newspapers that claim “etak” to cause health effects due to eating contaminated “etak”. Hence, this study aims to determine the heavy metals concentration in fresh, smoked and exposed “etak” sold at the stall as a baseline study in order to develop a method for removing the heavy metals content in its tissues. This study involves sample collection in the stalls around Kelantan, sample preparations via acid digestion and heavy metal determination using Perkin Elmer PinAAcle 900F Atomic Absorption Spectrometer. The results showed the heavy metals (Cr, Zn, Mn and Cu) concentrations (µg/g) in all “etak” tissue were at different level for fresh (Cr: 1.02±0.35ppm, Zn: 74.57±2.76ppm, Mn: 40.22±9.96ppm and Cu: 15.27±1.41ppm), smoked (Cr: 0.42±0.02ppm, Zn: 54.62±17.83ppm, Mn: 50.13±2.31ppm and Cu: 20.94±8.81ppm) and exposed (Cr: 0.53±0.08ppm, Zn: 63.07±8.44ppm, Mn: 50.41±6.92ppm and Cu: 12.80±0.40ppm) samples. The results obtained were compared with the permissible limits set by Malaysian Food Regulations 1985 (Cu: 30.0ppm and Zn: 100.0ppm), FAO/WHO 1984 (Mn: 5.4ppm) and IAEA – 407 (Cr: 0.75ppm). For fresh “etak”, Zn and Cu concentration were below the standards, while Mn and Cr were exceeded the permissible limits. For smoked “etak” and exposed “etak” at stall, all heavy metals concentration were within the permissible limits, except Mn contents. This study successfully determine the baseline concentration of the heavy metals in “etak”.