Heavy metals are toxic elements that have contaminated agricultural waters and soils due to their use in anthropic activities, generating bioaccumulation in food and biomagnification in the food chain. In this research, information was collected on the presence of heavy metals in different foods of plant origin in Ecuador, the first link in the trophic chain, to establish a baseline in the field of food toxicology. Information was extracted from the central databases, scientific journals and libraries' digital repositories, analyzing data on Cd, Hg, Pb and the metalloid As in 15 plants. According to the Mercosur standard, 14 exceeded the maximum permissible limit (LMP) of As, distinguishing the avocado (19.76 ± 1.36 mg/kg As). According to the Codex Alimentarius, 31% of the vegetables exceeded the LMP in terms of Cd; carrots (9.71 ± 8.66 mg/kg Cd) were the most contaminated. Mercury (Hg) was studied only in potatoes (0.04 mg/kg Hg), which was found to exceed the standard four times, while Pb surpassed the limits in 33% of the samples analyzed, sugarcane the vegetable with the highest concentrations of 4.32 mg/kg Pb. In conclusion, multi-metal contamination was evidenced in some vegetables, representing a risk to consumers' health and food safety. Keywords: bioremediation, contamination, food safety, heavy metals, toxicity
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