Overview
Barea-Sepulveda and colleagues analysed 16 site composites of five wild edible species by ICP-MS for eight elements. Mercury was elevated in all species, particularly porcini (Boletus), and the wood mushroom Agaricus silvicola carried very high cadmium. All values are on a dry-weight basis.
Key numbers
- Agaricus silvicola, Cortes de la Frontera site 1: cadmium 25.9 ± 0.418 mg/kg DW, arsenic 3.78 ± 0.005, mercury 5.16 ± 0.153, lead 1.21 ± 0.019 mg/kg DW (Table 3, #9).
- Boletus aereus, Bouhachem (Morocco) site 1: mercury 11.1 ± 0.489 mg/kg DW, arsenic <0.200 (Table 3, #15).
- Boletus edulis, Valdeinfierno: mercury 6.85 ± 0.147, lead 0.094 ± 0.008 mg/kg DW (Table 3, #12).
Methods (brief)
Washed fruiting bodies were oven-dried at 50 °C, block-digested with nitric and hydrochloric acid then hydrogen peroxide, and read by ICP-MS. QA used triplicates, blanks and the CS-M-3 Boletus edulis reference material (recoveries 70 to 130%). LODs 0.002 to 0.1 mg/kg DW.
Evidence Fitness
Good analytical QA but only one composite per site and a small number of sites per species; the dispersion shown is analytical (triplicate) rather than biological. The recovery window (70 to 130%) is wide. The study measures whole wild mushrooms, not soup; it is a proxy for cream-of-mushroom-soup and does not support that page directly.