Monitoring of Heavy Metal Content in Fruits and Vegetables Collected from Production and Market Sites in the Misurata Area of Libya

Overview

Elbagermi and colleagues measured lead, cadmium, zinc, copper, cobalt, and nickel in selected fruits and vegetables collected from production and market sites in the Misurata area of Libya. The study reports dry-weight concentrations for nine fruits and seven vegetables, using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. No arsenic, mercury, methylmercury, inorganic arsenic, or chromium species are reported.

Key numbers

Table 2 reports concentrations of heavy metals in mg/kg or ppm; the text states the concentrations are based on sample dry weight:

Additional source-reported summary values:

• Abstract concentration ranges were lead (Pb) 0.02-1.824, Cu 0.75-6.21, Zn 0.042-11.4, Co 0.141-1.168, nickel (Ni) 0.19-5.143, and cadmium (Cd) 0.01-0.362 mg/kg.
• Highest mean levels named in the abstract were Pb in mango, Cu in melon, Zn in spinach, Co in banana, Ni in mango, and Cd in mango.
• Table 3 daily-intake estimates: fruits (78 g/person/day) Pb 36.89 μg/day, Cd 5.54 μg/day, Zn 0.288 mg/day, Cu 0.205 mg/day, Co 45.24 μg/day, Ni 0.116 mg/day.
• Table 3 daily-intake estimates: vegetables (98 g/person/day) Pb 24.8 μg/day, Cd 13.3 μg/day, Zn 0.8 mg/day, Cu 0.33 mg/day, Co 49.7 μg/day, Ni 0.0231 mg/day.
• The paper states WHO/FAO safe values for fruit and vegetables of Cu 40, Pb 0.3, and Cd 0.2 mg/kg, and concludes that the collected fruit and vegetables contained measured heavy-metal contents within those 1999 WHO limits.

Methods (brief)

A total of 250 fruit and vegetable samples were purchased from several local suppliers and markets in Misurata City, Libya, during 2010. Two kilograms of each commodity were sampled per district, edible portions were retained, and bruised or rotten parts were removed. One-kilogram subsamples were taken from a 10 kg composite sample, oven-dried at 105 °C for 24 h, powdered, dry-ashed at 550 °C for 6 h with nitric acid added before ashing, rinsed with 3 N hydrochloric acid, filtered, and diluted to 50 mL. Pb, Cd, Zn, Cu, Co, and Ni were measured by atomic absorption spectrometry on a Hitachi 180-30 instrument. Validation used repeated analyses against NIST plant standard reference material.

Implications

This source contributes Libya-market occurrence evidence for Pb, Cd, Zn, Cu, Co, and Ni in fresh fruit, leafy vegetables, non-root vegetables, and root/tuber vegetables. The dry-weight basis should be kept separate from wet-weight or as-consumed produce datasets unless a documented conversion is added. The source does not support arsenic, mercury, methylmercury, inorganic arsenic, or chromium-speciation claims.

Related evidence

• Fruit
• Vegetables
• Root vegetables
• Leafy Vegetables
• Fresh Fruit
• Non-Root Vegetables
• Root and Tuber Vegetables
• Leafy / Green Vegetables, Other
• Lead
• Cadmium
• Zinc
• Copper
• Cobalt
• Nickel

Update history

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