Citation: Voica, C.; Cristea, G.; Iordache, A.M.; Roba, C.; Curean, V. Elemental Profile in Chicken Egg Components and Associated Human Health Risk Assessment. Toxics 2023, 11, 900. https://doi.org/10.3390/ toxics11110900 Academic Editors: Yizhong Shen, Yong Li and Xin Liu Received: 3 October 2023 Revised: 28 October 2023 Accepted: 1 November 2023 Published: 3 November 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). toxics Article Elemental Profile in Chicken Egg Components and Associated Human Health Risk Assessment Cezara Voica 1 , Gabriela Cristea 1, * , Andreea Maria Iordache 2 , Carmen Roba 3 and Victor Curean 4, * 1 National Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, 400293 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; cezara.voica@itim-cj.ro 2 National Research and Development Institute for Cryogenics and Isotopic Technologies, ICSI, 240050 Ramnicu Valcea, Romania; andreea.iordache@icsi.ro 3 Research Department, Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Babes-Bolyai University, 400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; carmen.roba@ubbcluj.ro 4 Faculty of Pharmacy, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania * Correspondence: gabriela.cristea@itim-cj.ro (G.C.); curean_victor@yahoo.com (V.C.) Abstract: Egg is a food product of high nutritional quality, extensively consumed worldwide. The objectives of this study were the determination of the elemental profile in eggs (egg white, yolk, and eggshell), the estimation of the non-carcinogenic health risk associated with the presence of heavy metals in investigated egg samples, and the development of statistical models to identify the best predictors for the differentiation of egg components. The assessments were carried out in a total set of 210 samples, comprising home-produced and commercial eggs, using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The results suggested measurable differences amongst hen eggs coming from different husbandry systems. The statistical models employed in this study identified several elemental markers that can be used for discriminating between market and local producer samples. The non-carcinogenic risk related to the consumption of the analyzed egg samples was generally in the safe range for the consumers, below the maximum permitted levels set by Romanian and European legislation. Food contamination is a public health problem worldwide, and the risk associated with exposure to trace metals from food products has aroused widespread concern in human health, so assessing the heavy metal content in food products is mandatory to evaluate the health risk. Keywords: egg; metals; health risk; chemometrics 1. Introduction Maintaining food safety has become a significant challenge in food production, con- sumption, and management, and worldwide attention to food safety has increased. Thus, food quality and safety must be a constant concern both for consumers and producers [1]. The poultry industry is one of the largest sectors of agriculture throughout the world, and the selection for egg quality is an essential component of the breeding strategies of companies that market egg-laying type hens [2–4]. Consumers demand high-quality prod- ucts with solid eggshells while reducing cost, guaranteeing eggs devoid of contaminants and improving the acceptability of rearing systems. Therefore, most selection strategies to enhance the quality of the eggs have focused on the shell’s physical properties and stability of egg weight [5,6]. Chicken eggs are one of the main sources of protein but, if contaminated by toxic heavy metals, become a problem for environmental and human health [7]. Poultry can take up heavy metals from different sources, primarily via nutrition, so metal residues may con- centrate in their eggs [8–10]. Chicken eggs are considered one of nature’s highly nutritious food items in the human daily diet, being highly responsible for human health [11]. Because most chickens are reared on farms, where a range of feed additives are used, concerns have Toxics 2023, 11, 900. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11110900 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/toxics