Contaminants of emerging concern in seafood: a scoping review of exposure-based risk evidence and critical considerations for future regulation

ABSTRACT Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) comprise a diverse group of unregulated compounds (e.g., pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs, personal care products, pesticides, flame retardants, per- and polyfluoroalkyls, polychlorinated biphenyls, plasticizers, and microplastics) that have been detected in food samples, with notable predominance in seafood. Therefore, a scoping review was performed in order to systematically map the current exposure-based risk evidence of CECs in bivalve mollusks (sentinel organisms), with additional critical considerations for future regulation. Records between 2024 and 2025 were tracked, remaining 15 studies for final analysis. Studies were predominantly from Asia (47%) and Europe (27%). Microplastics, pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls account for the majority of health concerns in several regions. Pharmaceuticals were sparsely described and when evaluated (e.g, sertraline), did not exceed risk thresholds. No studies addressed personal care products or illicit drugs, as well as temporal variability and national-scale surveys are largely unexplored, highlighting critical gaps to be addressed in future research. Moreover, risk prioritization based on local contamination profiles with industry-related datasets emerges as a pragmatic strategy for future seafood regulation.