El-Saka, M. S.; M. M. El-kholy and M. A. Aiad( 2020). The Contamination Status of Heavy Metals Associated with Fruits and Vegetables Collected from some Markets at El- Gharbia GovernorateJ. of Soil Sciences and Agricultural Engineering, Mansoura Univ., Vol. 11 (7):299-305, 2020
Abstract: Continuous consumption of local vegetables (veg.) and fruits polluted with heavy metals (HMs) lead to metals accumulation over time causing an array of diseases. Therefore, the current work aimed to assess the concentrations of heavy metals (HM) namely Cadmium Cd , Lead Pb , Nickel Ni , Cobalt Co and Chromium Cr in various fruits (Grab, Apple, Mango and Figs) and vegetables (Tomato, Cucumber, Potato, Jews mallow and Nasturtium) traded in three different markets i.e. Tanta (M1), Kafr Elzayate (M2) and Zefta (M3), at El- Gharbia Governorate, Egypt . The results showed that, great variations in the HMs concentrations across the vegetables and fruits and also within the same vegetable/fruits sourced from different markets which are exceeded the recommended WHO/FAO standers to humans. In various studied samples, Cd content ranged from 0.525 to 3.96 mg kg-1, Co value ranged from 0.001 to 0.95 mg kg-1, Cr concentration ranged from 1.09 to 4.96 mg kg-1, Ni concentration ranged from 1.04 to 4.66 mg kg-1 and Pb concentration ranged from 2.02 to 4.88 mg kg-1, respectively. The daily intake of metals through food consumption was in the ascending order Co < Cd < Ni < Pb < Cr for M2 market and hazard index (HI) for most of examined metals was more than 1 and this revealed desirable effects on human health. The excessive content of these HMs in vegetables and fruits samples may causes number of diseases with continued consumption.
Keywords: (: heavy metals, daily intake of heavy metals (DIM), non-carcinogenic risk index and hazard index, vegetables, fruits, markets. )
