Celery

Overview

This ingredient stub was created during the FDA FY2018-FY2020 Total Diet Study element-results ingest so future source ingests have a stable destination for this food matrix. FDA reports this item as TDS Food 114, “Celery, raw.” FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical Results

Why this commodity accumulates heavy metals

Celery is a high-water-content stalk vegetable that draws metals into its petioles primarily through root uptake from soil and irrigation water. The plant’s physiology, which relies on high transpiration rates to move water and dissolved solutes upward through its hollow stalks, also transports cadmium, nickel, and other divalent cations that enter the root zone from soil or irrigation sources. Cadmium is the metal of primary concern in celery; the FDA Total Diet Study FY2018-FY2020 reports a median Cd concentration of 32 ppb wet weight (n=27), with a 90th-percentile value of 59.4 ppb and a maximum of 100 ppb FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical Results. The Codex Alimentarius maximum level for cadmium in celery is 0.1 mg/kg fresh weight General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food and Feed (CXS 193-1995), substantially higher than limits for most other vegetables, reflecting empirical recognition that celery accumulates cadmium at higher rates than lower-accumulating crops such as root vegetables or legumes. The stalk includes both the petiole (lower metal accumulation) and attached leaves (higher Pb and Cd per unit mass due to smaller cross-sectional area and higher surface-to-volume ratio); survey values reported for whole celery or unspecified plant parts reflect the combined tissue profile.

Heavy metal contamination profile

Per-analyte snapshot derived from the machine-readable contamination_profile in the frontmatter above. data gap indicates the literature has been reviewed for this commodity-analyte combination and no usable occurrence data was found (a finding, not a placeholder). The Key sources column shows the top 2-3 contributing sources by year and sample size, with numbered wikilink aliases.

Synthesis basis and censoring treatment

The FDA Total Diet Study reported lead below its 4 ppb reporting limit in all 27 raw-celery composites (FDA 2022). The former [0,0] value was a left-censored non-detect rather than a measured zero and is corrected here. The New Zealand survey measured the Apium genus, which includes celery, and found lead below the detection limit in most composites (Dearing et al. 2025), while the Jiaozuo Chinese-market survey reported a vegetable-group lead mean of 0.013 mg/kg (13 ppb) fresh weight (Wu 2024).

The synthesized central range for celery lead is 0 to 6 ppb on a fresh-weight basis, held above the reporting-limit floor. Celery is a high-transpiration stalk vegetable and draws divalent cations more readily than fruiting vegetables, which supports retaining a small non-zero central band above the reporting-limit floor rather than collapsing the estimate to zero. Elevated values from contaminated-irrigation or hotspot sourcing are treated as right-tail context and are excluded from the central estimate.

FDA TDS FY2018-FY2020 Evidence

The normalized row-level data for this TDS food is stored in data/evidence/fda_tds_fy2018_2020_element_results_samples.csv, with per-food/per-analyte summaries in data/evidence/fda_tds_fy2018_2020_summary_by_food_analyte.csv. Concentrations are retained as FDA reported them, with the reporting-limit column preserved separately; reported zeroes are not rewritten as <LOD unless a source explicitly says to do so. FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical Results

Routing

This node is linked from the ingredient index and the FDA TDS source routing table.

Contamination Profile State

Per-analyte state — populated, in progress, or declared data gap — is carried authoritatively in the machine-readable contamination_profile frontmatter and the contamination-profile table above. Ingredient-level values belong here; finished-product values belong on the relevant product-category page.

FDA TDS FY2018-FY2020 Occurrence Values

FDA Total Diet Study FY2018-FY2020 reports prepared/composite-food concentration distributions for this ingredient as TDS food “Celery, raw” (FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical Results). Values are in ppb-equivalent on the basis FDA reported. The full sample-level data are stored in data/evidence/fda_tds_fy2018_2020_element_results_samples.csv; per-analyte distributions in data/evidence/fda_tds_fy2018_2020_summary_by_food_analyte.csv. These distributions count as one source under Persistent Wiki Ingest Rule synthesis discipline; numerical values stay in body scratch until a second independent source is integrated.

Ranges by source, region, and variety

The FDA Total Diet Study FY2018-FY2020 is the primary quantitative reference for celery in the US market, reporting cadmium with a median of 32 ppb and a maximum of 100 ppb across 27 composite samples (wet weight, as consumed raw) FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical Results. Nickel was detectable in some market samples but below the reporting limit at the median, indicating right-skewed distribution. Total arsenic was detectable in the upper part of the distribution, reaching a maximum of 9 ppb; lead and mercury were below reporting limits in all samples FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical Results. Celery cadmium is known to vary substantially with soil origin: irrigated production in arid regions using groundwater with elevated dissolved cadmium, and production on soils with elevated natural cadmium background or historical phosphate-fertiliser use, tends to produce higher concentrations. The Codex limit for celery cadmium (0.1 mg/kg, General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food and Feed (CXS 193-1995)) is double the limit for most other fresh vegetables, which itself reflects empirical evidence that celery occupies a higher position in the cadmium accumulation spectrum than standard vegetable crops. Geographic and varietal breakdown for celery is not currently available in this corpus beyond the US TDS aggregate.

Processing effects

The FDA TDS reports celery as “Celery, raw,” meaning no cooking was applied before analysis; concentrations represent the as-consumed raw product FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical Results. Washing whole celery stalks before cutting removes surface soil and some atmospheric particulate lead from the exterior, but does not reduce internalized cadmium. If celery is blanched or boiled (for soups and cooked preparations), cadmium leaches partially into the cooking water; the magnitude is not quantified for celery specifically in the current corpus. Celery leaves, when consumed, carry higher concentrations of cadmium and potentially lead per unit mass than the stalk tissue, owing to the higher surface-to-volume ratio and more direct atmospheric deposition pathway. Processing into celery juice concentrates or extracts may concentrate metals on a fresh-weight-equivalent basis if the juice is subsequently reduced; this derivative pathway is not characterised in the current corpus.

Ingredient-derivative risk

Fresh celery stalks represent the baseline exposure. Celery is used as a flavouring ingredient in broths, soups, and prepared dishes, where it is cooked and partially leaches metals into the liquid phase. Celery seed and celery seed extract are concentrated derivatives: drying concentrates cadmium substantially relative to fresh-weight values, and celery seed is used in seasoning blends, dietary supplements, and flavour formulations where per-serving exposures may be meaningful. Celery salt (ground celery seed mixed with salt) similarly carries concentrated cadmium. These derived forms are not individually characterised in the current corpus; users should treat celery seed and extract as potentially carrying cadmium at levels substantially above fresh stalk on a dry-weight basis.

Mitigation options

Sourcing levers

Selecting celery from growing regions with documented low soil cadmium background is the highest-impact lever. Key high-volume growing regions (central California in the US) have variable soil cadmium depending on field history and irrigation source. Supplier specification requiring compliance with the Codex maximum of 0.1 mg/kg Cd (General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food and Feed (CXS 193-1995)) or the EU general vegetable limit of 0.050 mg/kg (Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/915 cadmium maximum levels) is appropriate for ingredient buyers seeking lower-cadmium product. The EU limit for celery specifically (where celery is categorised as a stalk/stem vegetable subject to the general vegetable limit) is more restrictive than Codex.

Agronomic levers

Soil pH management is the primary agronomic lever; maintaining pH above 6.5 reduces cadmium bioavailability in the root zone. Avoiding phosphate fertilisers with elevated cadmium impurity reduces the ongoing cadmium load added to soil. Irrigation water quality is relevant in arid production regions where groundwater may carry dissolved cadmium; surface water irrigation generally carries lower dissolved cadmium.

No quantified data on cultivar selection for celery cadmium in the current corpus; section will be expanded when relevant evidence is ingested.

Processing levers

Discarding outer leaves and removing leaf tips before sale or use reduces per-serving cadmium if leaves are a significant fraction of the consumed weight. Blanching and discarding the blanch water removes some cadmium. Washing in clean water reduces surface contamination.

Formulation levers

No quantified data on this lever in the current corpus; section will be expanded when relevant evidence is ingested.

Testing and QC levers

For manufacturers using celery seed or celery extract in concentrated forms, lot-level ICP-MS testing for cadmium is appropriate given the concentration effect. Fresh stalk celery at typical consumption volumes (Cd median 32 ppb, 90th-percentile 59.4 ppb) sits well below the Codex 0.1 mg/kg limit; routine lot testing is lower priority for fresh whole stalk applications unless sourcing from regions with documented elevated soil cadmium.

Packaging and storage levers

No quantified data on this lever in the current corpus; section will be expanded when relevant evidence is ingested.

Regulatory limits that apply

The Codex Alimentarius general standard CXS 193-1995 (Codex Alimentarius — Maximum Levels for Cadmium in Food) sets a cadmium maximum level of 0.1 mg/kg fresh weight specifically for celery (Apium graveolens), which is notably higher than the 0.050 mg/kg limit applied to most other fresh vegetables and reflects celery’s status as a known cadmium accumulator General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food and Feed (CXS 193-1995). The EU Regulation 2023/915 (Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/915 cadmium maximum levels) applies the general vegetable cadmium maximum of 0.050 mg/kg fresh weight to celery, and the general Pb maximum of 0.10 mg/kg fresh weight. No specific US FDA action level applies to lead or cadmium in fresh celery; the FDA Closer to Zero program (FDA Closer to Zero — Program Overview) covers infant and toddler foods rather than fresh vegetables. The FDA TDS median Cd (32 ppb) is 32% of the Codex celery-specific limit and 64% of the EU general vegetable limit, indicating that typical US market celery sits within regulatory bounds on average while samples in the upper part of the distribution approach the EU threshold.

References

Works cited in this page’s text, in first-appearance order. This is not the full corpus for this page; it is only what the prose above draws on. The complete set of sources is listed under Sources below. Each title links to its source record, which carries the ingest receipt, the extracted values, and the file hash of the document it was built from.

1. FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical ResultsU.S. Food and Drug Administration · FDA Total Diet Study · 2022 · www.fda.govDataset
2. General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food and Feed (CXS 193-1995)Codex Alimentarius Commission · Codex Alimentarius (Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme) · 1995 · www.fao.orgGovernment
3. Assessment of Heavy Metals in Organic and Non-Organic Vegetables Post Severe Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle: A cross-sectional comparative analysisDearing C, Ye Z, and Robertshaw G · F1000Research · 2025 · doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.175538.1Review
4. Contamination of Heavy Metal(Loid)S in Cereals, Vegetables, and Legumes Purchased from Local Markets of Jiaozuo, China and The Associated Health Risk AssessmentWu Z · International Journal of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, 2(1): 180-200 · 2024 · doi.org/10.62051/10.62051/ijnres.v2n1.21Review

Sources

Auto-generated from source-page frontmatter. The "Used on this page for" column is populated by the orchestrator's POPULATE-SOURCE-LEGEND action; pending entries appear as *[awaiting synthesis]*.

Update history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git. When DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.