Mirończuk-Chodakowska et al. 2013 — Cadmium and lead in wild and cultivated mushrooms, eastern Poland

This study measured cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) in 21 edible mushroom species from the low-industry eastern region of Poland known as the Green Lungs, comparing 18 wild-harvested species from Podlaskie Province against 3 commercially cultivated species (Agaricus bisporus, Pleurotus ostreatus, Lentinus edodes). Wild mushrooms exhibited wide interspecies variability for Cd (0.10–10.20 µg/g dry mass) while Pb concentrations were generally low; two wild species (Rozites caperatus and Boletus chrysenteron) accumulated Cd at levels whose intake from a single 100 g fresh-weight serving could marginally exceed the provisional tolerable monthly intake (PTMI) established by FAO/WHO JECFA for cadmium. Cultivated mushrooms carried markedly lower heavy-metal burdens than most wild species, particularly for Pb.

Key numbers

Concentrations expressed as µg/g dry mass (DM) and µg/g fresh mass (FM); n = 3 specimens per species. All values mean ± SD per Table 1 (wild) and Table 2 (cultivated).

Wild mushrooms — Lead (Pb), Table 1 order:

• Armillaria mellea: 0.16 ± 0.13 DM; 0.02 ± 0.02 FM
• Boletus badius: 0.59 ± 0.37 DM; 0.05 ± 0.03 FM
• Boletus chrysenteron: 0.15 ± 0.05 DM; 0.01 ± 0.00 FM
• Boletus edulis: 0.47 ± 0.38 DM; 0.04 ± 0.03 FM
• Boletus subtomentosus: 0.30 ± 0.18 DM; 0.03 ± 0.01 FM
• Cantharellus cibarius: 0.47 ± 0.15 DM; 0.04 ± 0.01 FM
• Lactarius deliciosus: 0.34 ± 0.17 DM; 0.03 ± 0.02 FM
• Leccinum aurantiacum: 0.38 ± 0.20 DM; 0.03 ± 0.02 FM
• Leccinum scabrum: 0.37 ± 0.22 DM; 0.05 ± 0.04 FM
• Macrolepiota procera: 2.08 ± 1.80 DM; 0.30 ± 0.21 FM
• Rozites caperatus: 0.37 ± 0.18 DM; 0.04 ± 0.02 FM
• Russula heterophylla: 2.03 ± 1.70 DM; 0.20 ± 0.23 FM
• Russula vinosa: 2.61 ± 2.06 DM; 0.18 ± 0.19 FM (highest DM)
• Suillus bovinus: 0.27 ± 0.15 DM; 0.04 ± 0.02 FM
• Suillus grevillei: 0.21 ± 0.09 DM; 0.01 ± 0.01 FM
• Suillus luteus: 0.33 ± 0.03 DM; 0.02 ± 0.00 FM
• Tricholoma flavovirens: 1.39 ± 0.62 DM; 0.15 ± 0.11 FM
• Tricholoma portentosum: 0.14 ± 0.13 DM; 0.01 ± 0.01 FM (lowest DM)

Wild mushrooms — Cadmium (Cd), Table 1 order:

• Armillaria mellea: 4.53 ± 1.20 DM; 0.53 ± 0.24 FM
• Boletus badius: 0.51 ± 0.24 DM; 0.05 ± 0.03 FM
• Boletus chrysenteron: 10.20 ± 4.01 DM; 0.61 ± 0.22 FM (highest DM)
• Boletus edulis: 3.70 ± 1.53 DM; 0.31 ± 0.12 FM
• Boletus subtomentosus: 0.91 ± 0.27 DM; 0.09 ± 0.04 FM
• Cantharellus cibarius: 0.41 ± 0.14 DM; 0.03 ± 0.01 FM
• Lactarius deliciosus: 2.79 ± 0.65 DM; 0.24 ± 0.04 FM
• Leccinum aurantiacum: 0.44 ± 0.26 DM; 0.04 ± 0.03 FM
• Leccinum scabrum: 0.79 ± 0.43 DM; 0.11 ± 0.05 FM
• Macrolepiota procera: 1.76 ± 0.78 DM; 0.26 ± 0.09 FM
• Rozites caperatus: 9.29 ± 2.93 DM; 0.68 ± 0.20 FM
• Russula heterophylla: 0.10 ± 0.06 DM; 0.004 ± 0.001 FM (lowest DM)
• Russula vinosa: 0.32 ± 0.12 DM; 0.03 ± 0.01 FM
• Suillus bovinus: 0.22 ± 0.09 DM; 0.03 ± 0.01 FM
• Suillus grevillei: 2.28 ± 0.56 DM; 0.13 ± 0.01 FM
• Suillus luteus: 0.58 ± 0.27 DM; 0.04 ± 0.01 FM
• Tricholoma flavovirens: 1.11 ± 0.37 DM; 0.11 ± 0.03 FM
• Tricholoma portentosum: 1.79 ± 0.34 DM; 0.13 ± 0.02 FM

Cultivated mushrooms (Table 2), Pb and Cd in µg/g DM and µg/g FM:

• Agaricus bisporus (white): Pb = 0.03 ± 0.01 DM, < 0.01 FM; Cd = 0.09 ± 0.04 DM, 0.01 ± 0.00 FM
• Lentinus edodes: Pb = 0.12 ± 0.05 DM, 0.01 ± 0.00 FM; Cd = 0.42 ± 0.09 DM, 0.04 ± 0.01 FM
• Pleurotus ostreatus: Pb = 0.03 ± 0.01 DM, < 0.01 FM; Cd = 1.20 ± 0.34 DM, 0.10 ± 0.03 FM

Moisture content (across all 21 species): mean 90.8% FM, range 82.0–95.7% (Macrolepiota procera lowest; Suillus grevillei highest).

Regulatory comparisons cited by the authors (EC No. 629/2008 amending EC No. 1881/2006):

• EU maximum level for Pb in cultivated and wild mushrooms: 0.3 mg/kg FW (i.e. 0.3 µg/g FM). No wild or cultivated sample exceeded this limit on a FM basis; Macrolepiota procera at 0.30 ± 0.21 µg/g FM is at the limit.
• EU maximum level for Cd in mushroom species other than Agaricus bisporus, Pleurotus ostreatus, and Lentinus edodes: 1 mg/kg FW (1 µg/g FM). All 18 wild species fell below this limit on a FM basis; the highest were Rozites caperatus (0.68 µg/g FM) and Boletus chrysenteron (0.61 µg/g FM).
• EU maximum level for Cd in the three named cultivated species (Agaricus bisporus, Pleurotus ostreatus, Lentinus edodes): 0.2 mg/kg FW (0.2 µg/g FM). All three cultivated species fell below this limit on a FM basis.
• The authors also reference an EU tolerance limit of 3.0 µg/g DM for Pb in cultivated mushrooms (citing reference 20, Falandysz et al. 2008); Macrolepiota procera at 2.08 µg/g DM remained below this DM-basis tolerance.

Dietary intake (Table 3; calculated for a 100 g FM serving consumed by a 70 kg adult, using EFSA Scientific Committee default body-weight):

• JECFA PTWI for Pb: 0.025 mg/kg BW per week → 1.50 mg Pb/week → 0.214 mg Pb/day for a 70 kg adult.
• Wild-mushroom Pb intakes ranged from 0.0009 mg/100 g FM (Boletus chrysenteron) to 0.0295 mg/100 g FM (Macrolepiota procera, the highest); cultivated 0.0002–0.0010 mg/100 g FM. Even the highest single-serving Pb intake was ~7-fold below the PTWI-equivalent daily ceiling.
• JECFA PTMI for Cd: 0.025 mg/kg BW per month, equivalent to 0.0008 mg/kg BW per day → PDI 0.056 mg Cd/day for a 70 kg adult.
• Wild-mushroom Cd intakes ranged from 0.0004 mg/100 g FM (Russula heterophylla) to 0.068 mg/100 g FM (Rozites caperatus). Rozites caperatus (0.068) and Boletus chrysenteron (0.061) both exceed the PDI derived from PTMI in a single 100 g FM serving.
• Cultivated-mushroom Cd intakes ranged 0.001–0.010 mg/100 g FM (lowest Agaricus bisporus, highest Pleurotus ostreatus).

Chemical-equivalent ranking (Fig. 2): Boletus chrysenteron and Rozites caperatus were the two most contaminated species when Pb and Cd were combined as chemical equivalents (molecular weight divided by valence, summed per species). Macrolepiota procera was the highest among the remaining species on the chemical-equivalent ranking.

Methods (brief)

Wild mushrooms were collected during 2007–2010 from six communal areas of Podlaskie Province (eastern Green Lungs of Poland); three specimens per species were harvested in distant locations to avoid same-mycelium origin, fully developed and non-verminated. Cultivated mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus white-button, Pleurotus ostreatus, Lentinus edodes) from Polish cultivations were purchased at local food markets. Fruiting bodies were cleaned, cut, air-dried to constant mass, and pulverized in a grinder; dried samples stored in a desiccator at room temperature. Approximately 0.300 g of dried sample was digested in 4 mL concentrated nitric acid in an automatic microwave digestion system (Speedwave, Berghof, Germany). Total lead and total cadmium were quantified by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS, NexION 300D, PerkinElmer, USA). Method accuracy was verified against certified reference material Corn Flour INCT-CF-3 (Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology INCT, Warsaw, Poland). Detection limits: Pb = 0.16 µg/L; Cd = 0.017 µg/L. Repeatability (coefficient of variation): Pb = 2.6%; Cd = 3.5%. Concentrations were reported on both dry-mass (DM) and fresh-mass (FM) basis; moisture content was determined per sample. Chemical equivalents (molecular weight divided by valence) were used to rank species by combined Pb + Cd burden. Descriptive statistics (minimum, mean, maximum, SD) were computed in Microsoft Excel 2010.

No speciation was performed; only total Pb and total Cd are reported. The study does not cover Hg, As, Cr, Ni, or other metals. Small sample size per species (n = 3) limits statistical inference; high SD values for several species (e.g., Russula vinosa Pb SD = ± 2.06; Macrolepiota procera Pb SD = ± 1.80) reflect substantial intra-species variability across the six collection areas.

Implications

• Certification: Provides species-resolved occurrence data for Pb and Cd in 18 wild and 3 cultivated mushroom species from a low-industry European forest region. The species-specific Cd accumulation pattern — with Boletus chrysenteron and Rozites caperatus reaching 10.20 and 9.29 µg/g DM in an otherwise low-pollution context — is occurrence evidence relevant to any wild-mushroom certification scope; the source documents that intrinsic species physiology, not just contamination proximity, governs the contamination distribution.
• Courses: Useful classroom example that “uncontaminated area” does not imply uniformly low contamination across all species sharing that habitat, because Cd-binding proteins (cited for Boletus edulis from refs 11–12) and other physiological accumulation mechanisms operate independent of pollution proximity. The authors note that boiling or microwaving with water can reduce Cd content by approximately 40% (citing refs 32 and 38).
• App: Cultivated Agaricus bisporus carries the lowest measured Pb and Cd burden (0.03 µg/g DM Pb; 0.09 µg/g DM Cd) among the three commercial species; Pleurotus ostreatus carries the highest measured cultivated-mushroom Cd at 1.20 µg/g DM (0.10 µg/g FM). Wild Boletus chrysenteron and Rozites caperatus, where reported in a wild-foraged context, justify a high-Cd flag on consumer-facing app surfaces.

Wiki pages this source may touch

• wild-mushrooms
• cadmium
• lead
• non-root-vegetables
• eu-1881-2006-contaminants-superseded
• jecfa-cadmium-ptmi
• jecfa-lead-ptwi-withdrawn

Verification notes

• 2026-05-20 — Re-audited against PDF (raw/Manual Fetch Kimi /02_Vegetables_and_Vegetable_Products/02_Vegetables_and_Vegetable_Products/Cadmium and Lead in Wild Edible Mushrooms from the Eastern Region of Poland’s ‘Green Lungs’.pdf). All 18 wild-species Pb DM/FM values, all 18 wild-species Cd DM/FM values, all 3 cultivated-species Pb and Cd DM/FM values (Tables 1 and 2), all moisture-range values, and all Table 3 daily intake values verified line-by-line against the PDF — all match. Methods (ICP-MS NexION 300D PerkinElmer, Speedwave Berghof microwave digestion, 4 mL HNO3, ~0.300 g dry sample, Corn Flour INCT-CF-3 reference material, Pb LOD 0.16 µg/L, Cd LOD 0.017 µg/L, CV Pb 2.6% / Cd 3.5%) verified against page 1760. PTWI/PTMI derivations (PTWI Pb 0.025 mg/kg BW/week → 0.214 mg/day; PTMI Cd 0.025 mg/kg BW/month → PDI 0.056 mg/day for 70 kg adult, EFSA SC default BW reference 34) verified against page 1763.
• Schema-update enhancements applied this pass:
  • raw_handle migrated from the legacy manual-fetch-kimi placeholder to the current MFK_cadmium-and-lead-in-wild-edible-mushrooms-from-the form.
  • raw_path corrected from a truncated filename to the full PDF path including the “of Poland’s ‘Green Lungs’” suffix.
  • matrices corrected from [wild-mushroom, cultivated-mushroom, dried-mushroom] to [wild-mushroom, cultivated-mushroom]. The drying step in this study is sample preparation for ICP-MS (air-dryer to constant mass before grinding), not the as-purchased matrix; all mushrooms were collected fresh from forest sites or purchased fresh from local food markets, with average moisture 90.8% FM.
  • Legacy heading ## Wiki pages updated on ingest (3 entries) replaced with ## Wiki pages this source may touch (7 entries), adding the products and regulations routing destinations the source actually touches per the authors’ own EC 629/2008 and JECFA PTWI/PTMI comparisons.
  • Corrected an FM-basis claim. The previous revision stated “all species except Rozites caperatus (0.68 µg/g FM) and Boletus chrysenteron (0.61 µg/g FM) fall below 0.2 µg/g FM” — verified against Table 1, this is wrong: Armillaria mellea (0.53), Boletus edulis (0.31), Lactarius deliciosus (0.24), and Macrolepiota procera (0.26) all also exceed 0.2 µg/g FM Cd. The 0.2 µg/g FM limit in EC 629/2008 applies specifically to the three named cultivated species (Agaricus bisporus, Pleurotus ostreatus, Lentinus edodes), not to wild mushrooms; the wild-mushroom EU limit is 1 µg/g FM. All wild values remained below the 1 µg/g FM limit applicable to them.
• Brand-firewall compliance (Part 12 strict reading): no brand names in source-page content. “PerkinElmer NexION 300D” (ICP-MS instrument) and “Speedwave, Berghof” (microwave digester) are scientific-method vendor names per the Exception 2 carve-out and remain. “Agaricus bisporus (white)” is a species-and-form descriptor as reported by the paper, not a brand.
• Speciation conventions (Part 14): paper measured total Pb and total Cd only by ICP-MS; no Hg, As, Cr, or Cr-VI speciation. Frontmatter metals: [Pb, Cd] matches.

2026-06-08 byte-identical filesystem-copy enhancement: added a near_duplicates entry recording the Kimi agent’s June 8 placement of the same PDF under raw/Manual Fetch Kimi /June 8/Kimi_Agent_Download Corruption Issue/_extracted_02_Vegetables_and_Vegetable_Products/02_Vegetables_and_Vegetable_Products/. SHA-256 verified byte-identical to the canonical raw_path (169923ea1feb51b63a9dd37049d480dd8d06aef31298e5c22a2c59d45d7bc0dc); the same hash also appears at three other Kimi-corruption-issue paths (May 21 .../papers/02_Vegetables_and_Vegetable_Products/, June 8/.../papers/02_Vegetables_and_Vegetable_Products/, and manual-fetch/Kimi_Agent_Download Corruption Issue/papers/02_Vegetables_and_Vegetable_Products/). Manual-fetch loop now recognizes the June 8 _extracted_ location as already-ingested. No claim, value, slug, exposure number, key-numbers, or HMTc-firewall change. No new audit cycle spawned because no body or evidence-bearing frontmatter changed.

Page history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page. 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.