**6. Conclusions**

The information gathered herein highlights the risks associated with arsenic, Cr, Pb, and Hg contamination in foods. Therefore, measures should be taken to reduce exposure of the general population to these contaminants to minimize the risk of adverse health effects. The develop‐ ment of simple strategies suitable for obtaining quantitative information regarding some species of great interest should be encouraged.

In the food industry, analytical chemistry plays an important role, contributing new analytical procedures and instrumentation. Methods for the determination and monitoring of metals are still scarce. However, there are inherent difficulties associated with the types of samples involved. There are various types of food samples and a great variation in their compositions. This hinders the application of analytical techniques for the fast and accurate monitoring of metals in real samples. More sophisticated techniques are of interest in some fields of appli‐ cation, but these techniques have not yet reached the food industry. Thus, chemists need to direct their attention toward these trends with the aim of narrowing the gap between science and the food industry. These studies require an interdisciplinary approach to cover the various aspects involved and could achieve important advances in toxicology, chemistry, and food science.
