Concentration of cadmium and lead in vegetables and fruits

Abstract

Chemical contamination of foods pose a significant risk to consumers. A source of this risk is due to the consumption of products contaminated with heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb). The aim of the study was to research the levels of Cd and Pb contamination of selected species of vegetables and fruits in the form of fresh, frozen, dried and processed products. The goal was to verify which of these food groups was more contaminated with heavy metals. The study covered 370 samples of fruits and vegetables including apples, pears, grapes, raspberries, strawberries, cranberries, as well as beetroots, celeries, carrots and tomatoes. The content of Cd and Pb was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. Quantitative results were analyzed using statistical models: analysis of variance, outlier analysis, post-hoc multiple comparison Tukey test. The tests showed that the levels of Cd and Pb concentration in samples of fresh, processed, frozen and dried fruits and vegetables varied substantially. The highest concentrations were recorded in dried products. Several fruit and vegetable samples exceeded the maximum permissible concentrations of Cd and Pb. The contamination of these products could be a significant source of consumer exposure to heavy metals when these products are a part of the diet.

Quantification and Reduction in Heavy Metal Residues in Some Fruits and Vegetables: A Case Study Galați County, Romania

“…Previously published data on As [34][35][36][37][38], Cd [36,37,[44][45][46][47], Pb [18,[35][36][37][44][45][46][47][48]54], and Zn [17,18,34,35,45,47,54,[57][58][59][60][61] are comparable to the findings from the present study. The results obtained are also comparable with previous research carried out on samples of fruits and vegetables from Romania [16,49,50] and Moldavia [38].…”

“…The results obtained for Cd were comparable to those obtained by Rusin et al (2021) [44] (0.001-0.131 mg/kg fruit samples from Poland), Bagdatlioglu et al (2010) [45] (ND-0.024 µg/g vegetable samples from Turkey), Marín et al (2018) [36] (ND-0.0088 mg/kg vegetable and fruit samples from Spain), Shutian et al (2019) [37] (0.043 mg/kg chestnut samples from China), Zeiner et al (2018) [46] (Cd < 0.028 mg/kg d.w.), and Ferrante et al (2013) [47] (Cd < 0.004-0.71 µg/g fruit and vegetable samples from Italy). In a study by Antić-Mladevović et al ( 2009) [48], Cd levels in raspberry and blueberry samples from Montenegro (0.59-0.64 mg/kg DW) were significantly higher than those presented in this study.…”

Determination of trace metals in vegetables using ICP-MS

“…The concentration of Pb in chard (0.563 µg g -1 ) and spinach (0.575 µg g -1 ) were lower than the concentration (46.24 and 10.29 µg g -1 ) reported previously in the study conducted by Mohamed et al (2003). The concentration of Pb in Egyptian leek (0.342 µg g -1 ) and spring onion (0.244 µg g -1 ) of this investigation were lower compared to the study performed by Naghipour et al (2018) which were 1.27 and 0.58 µg g -1 , respectively, while the concentration of Pb acquired in celery (1.323µgg -1 ) was higher than the result of Guerra et al (2012) and Rusin et al (2021) which were 0.47 µg g -1 and 0.259, respectively. Regarding garden cress, the concentration of Pb was 0.466 µg g -1 and lower than that gained by Souri et al (2018) which was 3.5 µg g -1 .…”

“…TheconcentrationsofCdinchard(0.054μgg −1 ), garden cress (0.224 μg g −1 ), spinach (0.182 μg g−1),Egyptianleek(0.059μgg −1 ), were lower than the concentrations (0.56 to 1.62 µg g -1 ) documented by Mohamed et al (2003) but higher than the concentration (0.04 µg g-1) reported by Bigdeli and Seilsepour, 2008). The Cd content in celery (0.329 μg g −1 ) obtained was greater than that documented (0.03 to 0.152 μg g −1 ) by Rusin et al (2021). The present concentration 0.224 µg g -1 of Cd evaluated in garden cress was lower than the value obtained by Bigdeli and Seilsepour (2008) which was 1.25 µg g -1 .…”

Evaluation of food homogenates on cell survival: pilot study for the in vitro analysis of infectious foodborne HEV

“…There are also a number of reasons that could be related to loss of cells with speci c food types. Soft fruits and leafy vegetables can be of a more acidic nature and it has been shown that these food groups can be contaminated with heavy metals such as cadmium and lead (Rusin et al 2021). Pork sausage raw meat, pâté and cooked mussels contain high levels of fat (Online Resource 1), which also could contribute to cell death (Ebadi and Mazurak 2014).…”