Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of cadmium and lead in edible tissue of Mytella charruana and Mugil curema from three coastal lagoons (Altata Ensenada del Pabellón, AEP; Urías, URI; and Teacapán, TEA) of Sinaloa (NW of Mexico) during an annual cycle, to compare maximum permissible levels (MPLs) of with legal limits of cadmium and lead, and to assess potential risk for consumers. Methods: Samples of charry mussel (M. charruana) and white mullet (M. curema) were collected every two mon- ths between July 2005 and July 2006 in three of the main lagoon systems in the state of Sinaloa (NW Mexi- co): Altata-Ensenada del Pabellón (AEP), Urías (URI) and Teacapán (TEA), which represent different pollution. Results: The range of mean levels in the studied la- goons were as follows: in M. charruana Cd 0.064 to 0.222 and Pb 0.206 to 0.482 μg g -1 ww, respectively and in M. curema Cd 0.003 to 0.018 and Pb 0.013 to 0.019 μg g -1 ww, respectively. Taking into account na- tional and international regulations, the Cd and Pb lev- els detected in M. curema apparently do not pose a risk for human health. Nonetheless, for M. charruana the scenario is different, some levels of Cd in TEA surpass- ed maximum permissible levels (MPL’s) of European Commission (EC) and Codex regulations and on the other hand, Pb levels in AEP rather than URI surpassed MPLs of national and international regulations. Conclusion: Although some levels exceed legal limits, risks for human health are diluted because EDI - of Cd and Pb - via consumption of edible tissue of fish were far below the provisional permissible tolerable daily in- take (PTDI) values established by FAO/WHO. However, this situation is different if we taking into account, dif- ferent patterns of consumption in mussels, few EDI val- ues exceed the established levels of PTDI. Keywords: Food safety, Lead, Cadmium, Seafood con- sumption, Estimated daily intake Introduction In past years, the fish consumption has risen as a re- sult the benefits they offer to human health, due to their source of nourishment, high quality protein and poly- unsaturated fatty acids, they lower the risk of cardio- vascular disease and immunologic disorders, among others 1,2 . Worldwide the rise in fish and shellfish con- sumption per capita went from 9.9 in 1960 to 19.2 in 2012. In countries like Spain, Japan and China, the ave- rage consumption in 2013 was 32 kg per person per year 3 . On the other hand, in Mexico the historical fish consumption ranks very low from the world’s average, in the 90’s consumption per capita was 10.4 kg and by 2010 was 12.81 kg per year 4 . In recent years, Mexican authorities have been encouraging fish consumption through various sponsored programs directed to boost primary activities as fishing and aquaculture. Nonetheless, despite the great benefits of eating sea- food, this can pose a risk to human health because of its bioaccumulation tendency of contaminants present in the environment 5,6 . In fact, the contaminants can be transferred through the food chain, and eventually reach greater, possibly harmful, concentrations among top predators such as eagles, polar bears, and even human Jesús Efrén Astorga-Rodríguez 1 , Irma Eugenia Martínez-Rodríguez 1 , Luz María García-de la Parra 1 , Miguel Betancourt-Lozano 1 , Ruth Cecilia Vanegas-Pérez 2 , Claudia Alejandra Ponce de León-Hill 2 & Jorge Ruelas-Inzunza 3 1 Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, A.C., (CIAD - Unidad Mazatlán), Sinaloa, México 2 Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, D.F., México 3 Instituto Tecnológico de Mazatlán, 82000 Mazatlán, Sinaloa, México Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to I. E. Martínez-Rodríguez (irma@ciad.mx) Received 16 July 2018 / Received in revised form 6 September 2018 Accepted 11 September 2018 DOI 10.1007/s13530-018-0365-1 ©The Korean Society of Environmental Risk Assessment and Health Science and Springer 2018 pISSN : 2005-9752 / eISSN : 2233-7784 Toxicol. Environ. Health. Sci. Vol. 10(3), 203-211, 2018 Abstract Lead and Cadmium Levels in Mussels and Fishes from Three Coastal Ecosystems of NW Mexico and Its Potential Risk due to Fish and Seafood Consumption