Chemical Hazards in Products of Animal Origin in Cambodia from 2000 to 2023: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Chemical hazards in food present a significant health risk. The objective of our review is to understand health risks associated with chemical contaminants in products of animal origin (POAO) in Cambodia where there is no known published study. We followed the “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses” (PRISMA) guidelines. A total of 23 reports were included for review. The findings are presented according to the PRISMA guidelines. The studies mostly focused on fishery products, with arsenic and mercury being the most frequently studied hazards. The evidence of banned substances such as chloramphenicol and certain organo-chlorine pesticides (OCP) were reported in fish and meat. The average concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in smoked fish exceeded the EU limits ranging from 0.034 to 17.2 ppm with the average mean concentration of 1.92 ppm. The pooled geometric means of arsenic and mercury in fish were 0.40 ppm (95% CI: 0.25–0.66 ppm) and ~0.14 ppm (95% CI: 0.087 to 0.223) respectively. The health risk of mercury contamination in fishery product needs the attention of the risk managers. However, industrial contaminants such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) and butyl tin in marine fishes were lower than that reported elsewhere such as Japan. We discuss the implications of the findings for human health and national food control systems (NFCS), the capacity of different agencies to undertake chemical risk assessment, the utility of SLRs for risk assessment and communication in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and the need for further research.