1166 https://oamjms.eu/index.php/mjms/index Scientifc Foundation SPIROSKI, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences. 2021 Nov 10; 9(E):1166-1168. https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2021.7329 eISSN: 1857-9655 Category: E - Public Health Section: Public Health Education and Training Education on Mercury Exposure from Fish and its Product in Elementary Students in Kenjeran Beach Area, Surabaya: A Study Protocol Trias Mahmudiono 1 * , Eurika Zebadia 1 , Nur Sahila 2 , Diah Indriani 3 , Stefania Widya Setyaningtyas 1 1 Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia; 2 Department of Health Policy and Administration, Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia; 3 Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Health Promotion, Public Health Faculty, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia Abstract BACKGROUND: Fish are one of the high protein food sources that could be found easily in Indonesia. Recent trends in industrialization and human activity (e.g., agriculture) that started the degradation of environmental quality such as mercury contamination in fsh. AIM: We aimed to investigate mercury contamination in fsh because the incident occurs more frequently and could afect the health condition both in the long- and short-term. This study aimed to increase the student’s knowledge on the danger of mercury contamination in fsh and its products. METHODS: A quasi-experimental study will be conducted at a public school in Kenjeran District, Surabaya. The framework of the Health Behavior Model theory is used to educate the students on the danger of mercury contamination in fsh and its products. RESULTS: This study targets elementary school children with a total of 135 students. CONCLUSION: This study has been considered by the Health Research Ethics Comitee Universitas Airlangga, Faculty of Nursery, with the number: 2359-X-KEPK. The Universal Trial Number for thus study is U1111-1269- 3728 and registered at the Thai Clinical Trials Registry (TCTR) and has been approved with indentifcation number TCTR20210913003. Edited by: Sasho Stoleski Citation: Mahmudiono T, Zebadia E, Sahila N, Indriani D, Setyaningtyas S. Education on Mercury Exposure from Fish and its Product in Elementary Students in Kenjeran Beach Area, Surabaya: A Study Protocol. Open Access Maced J Med Sci. 2021 Nov 10; 9(E):1166-1168. https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2021.7329 Keywords: Mercury; Fish; Food safety; Nutrition education *Correspondence: Trias Mahmudiono, Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia. E-mail: trias-m@fkm.unair.ac.id Received: 15-Sep-2021 Revised: 05-Oct-2021 Accepted: 02-Nov-2021 Copyright: © 2021 Trias Mahmudiono, Eurika Zebadia, Nur Sahila, Diah Indriani, Stefania Setyaningtyas Funding: This study was supported by the Direktorat Riset dan Pengabdian Masyarakat, Deputi Bidang Penguatan Riset dan Pengembangan Kementerian Riset dan Teknologi/Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist Open Access: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) Introduction Fish are one of the high protein food sources that could be found easily in Indonesia. However, recent trends in industrialization and human activity (e.g., agriculture) that started the degradation of environmental quality followed by ecological imbalance cause a public health concern especially on fsh safety that is consumed in areas where the mining and industry activity happens [1]. The food safety problem has become a concern because the incident occurs more frequently and could afect the health condition both in the long- and short-term. This puts a signifcant health burden on the population. One of the problems is the contamination of heavy metals among fsh (freshwater and seawater fsh). Heavy metal contamination could cause health disadvantages through many paths such as bioaccumulation and biomagnifcation in the food chain (consuming contaminated fsh), consuming contaminated water, and usage of surface water as daily use to wash and bath [2]. Consuming food or seafood that came from the contaminated sea is the main pathway of heavy metals exposure among humans [3]. Heavy metal contamination in humans had been studied about several health consequences. Mercury contamination is indicated as the agent that causes several harms such as immunology, neurology, reproduction, motoric, nephrology, and cardiac disturbance. Several genetic disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, autism, lupus, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis also were mediated by heavy metal exposure [4]. Efects of methylmercury on 10 years old children that were studied by Gustin et al. [5] were found to be signifcant with bad behavior from neurotoxicity development. This study is conducted on schools that are located in the Kenjeran Beach area because they have a higher risk of exposure. Therefore, nutrition education should be given to increase the knowledge and understanding of mercury contaminants in fsh and the products. This study is intended to increase the knowledge of elementary students about mercury contamination in fsh and the products.