Overview
This single-author study measured lead by ICP-AES in 104 food items bought in Riyadh markets in May 2009, covering vegetables (fresh and canned), fruits, pickles, legumes, cereal products, dairy, beverages, sweets, meat and fish, eggs and oils. It then estimated dietary lead intake from a 300-family questionnaire and from the FAO food balance sheet. Results are mean lead in micrograms per gram dry weight.
Key numbers
- Round leafy lettuce: lead 0.195 ± 0.065 μg/g dry weight; lettuce 0.033 ± 0.023 (Table 1, rows 27-28, p. 7485).
- Tomatoes: lead 0.025 ± 0.017 μg/g; canned carrots 0.025 ± 0.012; carrot 0.027 ± 0.015 (Table 1, rows 4, 17, 35).
- Highest value: a packaged chocolate confectionery product, 0.199 ± 0.04 μg/g (Table 1, row 82, p. 7486).
- Estimated intake: 24.574 μg/person/day from the questionnaire and 22.74 μg/person/day from the food balance sheet (Tables 2-3).
Methods (brief)
Three samples of each item were bought, dried at 100 °C, milled, pooled and wet-digested on a hot plate with acids chosen per food category, then analyzed by ICP-AES (Thermo iCAP 6500). Spike recovery averaged 97.55 ± 1.6%. No certified reference material or detection limit is reported.
Evidence Fitness
One pooled sample per food (three purchases) with SD across analytical replicates, so values describe single market lots rather than variability across the market. Results are on a dry-weight basis with no moisture data. No detection limit or reference material is reported, and the abstract, text and table disagree in a few places (for example eggs 0.079 versus 0.074 μg/g; chicken 0.068 in text versus 0.026 in Table 1). The study measures no purees: its fresh and canned vegetables are a proxy for non-root-vegetable-purees only, so that page is not linked. Brand-named products were anonymized in the extraction.