Overview
Brzezicha-Cirocka et al. measured bio-elements and toxic elements in seven edible wild mushroom species collected from two eastern Polish regions with different environmental settings. Cadmium was detected in all specimens, with low median values below 1.0 mg/kg dry biomass for several species but elevated values in some Boletus, Leccinum, and Xerocomus rows. The most important occurrence signal is Leccinum versipelle from the Tarnobrzeska Plain, where whole fruiting bodies had median cadmium (Cd) of 9.8 mg/kg dry biomass and a reported range up to 57 mg/kg dry biomass.
Key numbers
All concentration values below are reported by the source as mg/kg dry biomass in Table 2. The structured evidence rows convert these values to ug/kg dry weight using 1 mg/kg = 1000 ug/kg.
Cadmium in whole fruiting bodies:
| Species and region | n | Mean +/- SD | Median | Range | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cantharellus cibarius, Morag | 16 pooled samples; 162 fruiting bodies | 0.58 +/- 0.05 | 0.57 | 0.49-0.67 | whole fruiting body, dry biomass |
| Lycoperdon perlatum, Morag | 16 pooled samples; 138 fruiting bodies | 2.2 +/- 0.6 | 2.4 | 1.5-2.9 | whole fruiting body, dry biomass |
| Boletus edulis, Morag | 32 pooled samples | 2.8 +/- 2.4 | 2.2 | 0.36-10 | whole fruiting body, dry biomass |
| Boletus edulis, Tarnobrzeska Plain | 29 pooled samples | 5.2 +/- 4.7 | 2.7 | 0.33-18 | whole fruiting body, dry biomass |
| Leccinum aurantiacum, Morag | 32 pooled samples | 0.81 +/- 0.87 | 0.56 | 0.18-4.9 | whole fruiting body, dry biomass |
| Leccinum versipelle, Tarnobrzeska Plain | 29 pooled samples | 14 +/- 14 | 9.8 | 0.97-57 | whole fruiting body, dry biomass |
Cadmium in caps and stipes from Tarnobrzeska Plain:
| Species and part | n | Mean +/- SD | Median | Range | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suillus luteus caps | 15 pooled samples | 0.53 +/- 0.19 | 0.57 | 0.19-0.80 | caps, dry biomass |
| Suillus luteus stipes | 14 pooled samples | 0.58 +/- 0.37 | 0.48 | 0.23-1.7 | stipes, dry biomass |
| Xerocomus subtomentosus caps | 15 pooled samples | 9.4 +/- 3.6 | 9.3 | 3.6-16 | caps, dry biomass |
| Xerocomus subtomentosus stipes | 15 pooled samples | 7.5 +/- 3.2 | 7.1 | 3.3-14 | stipes, dry biomass |
Silver was reported for the Morag whole-fruiting-body rows where data were available: Cantharellus cibarius mean 0.53 mg/kg dry biomass, median 0.55, range 0.17-0.82; Lycoperdon perlatum mean 2.0, median 2.0, range 1.1-3.9; Boletus edulis mean 1.1, median 0.85, range 0.16-3.1; Leccinum aurantiacum mean 0.63, median 0.39, range 0.18-3.3. Several Tarnobrzeska Plain species rows report silver as “WD” without data.
The paper compares mushroom Cd values with European maximum levels for fresh edible mushrooms. It states that the EU limit for Cd is 0.2 mg/kg fresh product for three cultivated species and 1.0 mg/kg fresh product for other mushrooms. Assuming 90 percent moisture, the authors express these as 2.0 mg/kg dry biomass for cultivated species and 10 mg/kg dry biomass for other mushrooms; only Leccinum versipelle from the Tarnobrzeska Plain had median Cd near the 10 mg/kg dry-biomass comparator.
Methods (brief)
The authors collected fruiting bodies of Boletus edulis, Cantharellus cibarius, Leccinum aurantiacum, Leccinum versipelle, Lycoperdon perlatum, Suillus luteus, and Xerocomus subtomentosus from Morag and the Tarnobrzeska Plain. Samples were cleaned, dried at 65 C to constant mass, ground, and digested by microwave-assisted decomposition with concentrated nitric acid in pressurized PTFE vessels. Final determination used flame atomic absorption spectroscopy with deuterium background correction. Analytical control used procedural blanks and certified reference materials including fish flour, lyophilized muscle tissue, and sea lettuce.
Implications
Certification: This is direct occurrence evidence for wild mushroom Cd on a dry-biomass basis. The species and part split matters: a generic wild-mushroom pool would hide the high Cd medians in Leccinum versipelle and Xerocomus subtomentosus. Any standards work should keep species, geography, and dry/fresh basis explicit.
Courses: The paper is a clear example of why mushroom heavy-metal risk is species-specific and why dry-biomass reporting can look high relative to fresh-weight regulatory limits unless moisture conversion is stated.
App: The source supports the existing wild-mushroom Cd concern, especially for Boletus, Leccinum, and Xerocomus species, but it should not be applied to cultivated button mushrooms without a separate cultivated-mushroom source pool.
Related evidence
Update history
No substantive edit history is available in this build. The full commit record is available in git.