Overview
The authors measured 14 elements by ICP-OES in 69 samples of 36 vegetable types (leafy, fruiting, root and tuber, and legume groups, plus broccoli, cauliflower and mushroom) bought in Kastamonu markets in 2021 and 2022. Results are printed per vegetable type in µg/kg dry weight. Lead and cadmium were above the cited Turkish Food Codex maximum levels, and cancer-risk indices exceeded 1e-4 for 15 samples.
Key numbers
- Lead across all vegetable types: mean 2193, median 2161, max 3671 µg/kg dry weight (purslane); bean below LOD (Table 3).
- Cadmium: mean 536, range 284 (bean) to 1289 (pumpkin) µg/kg dry weight (Table 3).
- Arsenic: mean 1495, max 2996 (rocket) µg/kg dry weight; spinach 2035, white cabbage 2663 µg/kg (Table 3).
Methods (brief)
Edible parts were washed, dried at 60 °C, powdered, microwave-digested in nitric acid and analyzed by ICP-OES in triplicate. Detection limits were 0.10 to 6.08 µg/kg. No certified reference material or recovery is reported. Table 1 gives a dry/wet ratio for each vegetable, but only dry-weight values are printed.
Evidence Fitness
Broad coverage of common vegetables from ordinary markets, but one to three samples per vegetable, no reported reference material, and ICP-OES detection limits that look very low for the technique. Values are on a dry-weight basis. Whether the multi-sample rows are means is not stated. Small text errors exist (aluminum average, the white radish code). For collard-greens this is a proxy (cabbage, broccoli and other Brassicas, no collards); for vegetables-mixed it is a single-vegetable survey, not a mixed vegetable product.