Mohammad Miri; Seyede Mojgan Mosavi Bideli; Mehdi Mokhtari; Hamideh Ebrahimi Aval
Volume 23, Issue 3 , July and August 2016, , Pages 392-397
Abstract
Background Vegetables are important components of a healthy and proper diet. The main route of entry of heavy metals into the body is through the foods, especially vegetables. Because the use of wastewater for irrigation has become a common practice, and the standards in this regard are not met, especially ...
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Background Vegetables are important components of a healthy and proper diet. The main route of entry of heavy metals into the body is through the foods, especially vegetables. Because the use of wastewater for irrigation has become a common practice, and the standards in this regard are not met, especially the products that are consumed raw materials like vegetables can threaten public health. Therefore, in this study, the concentrations of heavy metals (lead, cadmium, arsenic) in vegetables distributed in green groceries of Yazd City, Iran were measured.Materials & Methods This research was a cross-sectional study. Over 2 months, 40 samples of vegetables (parsley, coriander, leek, and lettuce), (20 samples in each month) were randomly selected from Yazd greengroceries and prepared according to the standard method for determining the concentration of heavy metals by atomic absorption spectrometry. Data analysis was performed using SPSS and Excel. Finally, the obtained data were compared with the standards of the World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization.Results The average values of the studied heavy metals in vegetables were different. Parsley had the highest total concentration of heavy metals (518 mg/kg), and lettuce had the lowest total concentration of heavy metals (305 mg/kg).Conclusion The concentration of heavy metals was more than WHO and FAO standards. Probably soil or water that is used for vegetable growth has a lot of heavy metals and is not standard for vegetable irrigation. Therefore, controlling policies from respective organizations are of necessity.