Comparison of the plant uptake factor of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) from the three different concentrations of PFOA and PFOS in soil to spinach and Welsh onion

Abstract

The long-chained perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), are a potential exposure risk in the environment, specifically for humans due to high levels of bioaccumulation, persistence, and toxicity. In the current study, the plant uptake factors (PUFs) of spinach and Welsh onion were investigated on the three different concentration levels of PFOA and PFOS in soil. Spinach and Welsh onion were divided into three residue groups, a control group and two levels of PFOA and PFOS. The PFAAs spiked soils were aged for six months and the extractable residue of PFOS in the aged soil was reduced to 30-59% of the initial spiked concentrations for PFOS, while PFOA showed almost the same initial spiked concentrations. The PUFs for PFOA and PFOS were 0.111-2.821 and 0.047-3.175 for spinach, and 0.203-0.738 and 0.035-0.181 for Welsh onion, respectively. The highest PUF values in both vegetable were displayed when the residual concentration of PFAAs were part-per-billion (ppb) or sub-ppb in soil.

Effect of soil organic matter on the plant uptake of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulphonic acid (PFOS) in lettuce on granular activated carbon-applied soil

“…Reported BAFs for PFOA in different crops are: 0.004-0.006 in ricegrain, 0.435 in ricewhole, 0.02 in cornfruit, 0.111-2.821 in spinach, 0.12 in wheat, 0.154 in parsley, 0.252-6.6 in lettuce, 0.26-1.349 in carrot, 0.256-0.962 in Welsh onion, 0.355 in plum, and 0.592 in white cabbage. Similar BAFs have been reported for PFOS: 0.002-0.003 in ricegrain, 0.057 in ricewhole, 0.017-0.181 in Welsh onion, 0.048-3.175 in spinach, 0.067 in parsley, 0.086 in white cabbage, 0.181-1.071 in carrot, 0.286-0.65 in lettuce, and 0.96 in corn (Bizkarguenaga et al 2016;Choi et al 2020;Lee et al 2020;Ghisi et al 2019;Liu 2017;Navarro et al 2017;Xiang et al 2018). Although BAFs in crops are generally lower than those in animals, the dietary exposure of PFAAs from crops was high enough to almost reach the revised reference doses (RfD) for PFOA and PFOS as stipulated by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) (Choi et al 2020).…”

Diversity and Biocontrol Potential of Endophytic Fungi and Bacteria Associated with Healthy Welsh Onion Leaves in Taiwan

“…Welsh onion ( Allium fistulosum L.) belongs to the family Alliaceae [ 1 ]. This vegetable crop is an important cooking ingredient and traditional medicine in several Eastern countries, including China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. One of the major Welsh onion-growing areas in Taiwan is Sanxing Township, in Yilan County, and Welsh onion in Sanxing is famous for the unique flavour of Welsh onion cultivar grown in this area named ‘Si-Ji-Cong’.…”

The dietary risk assessment of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorosulfonic acid (PFOS) in the root crops from the survey of the residue in agricultural soil and the crops

“…Recently, the bioconcentration factors (BCFs) of PFOA and PFOS have been reported for various crops and animals. The factors were low (below 10) for crops; however, PFOA and PFOS were frequently detected in various crops [17,19,[22][23][24][25]. The dietary exposure to PFOA and PFOS has not yet been fully estimated because of the lack of information on their residues in food crops [2,21,26].…”