Assessment of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning Toxins in Green Mussel (Perna virisdis) of Street Food Grilled Dish in Bangkok: A Food Safety Concern

Abstract

The notable street food grilled dish in Bangkok is known for its unique flavors and tasty aroma, easily accessible, inexpensive and nutritious. The consumption of street foods has become a public health concern. A major source of contribution to health hazard risk is raw materials. Paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins (PSTs) or saxitoxin (STX) can cause severe neurological effects. This illness caused by intaking PSTs contaminated molluscs. The preliminary study aimed to assess PSTs in fresh green mussels from street food grilled dishes in Talad Phu and Ram Intra subdistrict in Bangkok during 2021. Seventy composite samples of green mussels (a pool of 20 individuals for each) were randomly collected from street vendors and determined PST using a radioligand receptor binding assay. The PSTs in the examined samples ranged from 0.285 to 5.477 with the average of 2.619 ± 0.995 μg STX eq/100 g meat. The results revealed that all of the examined green mussels of street food grilled dishes were of satisfactory quality due to toxins levels not exceeding a safe level of 80 μg STX eq/100 g meat. It indicates that there is no health risk for green mussel consumers of street food grilled dishes in the examined vendors.