Overview
Qin and colleagues bought 244 samples of nine edible mushroom species in 10 cities of Shaanxi Province in 2020 and measured lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury and chromium by ICP-MS. Two species (wood ear and snow fungus) were analysed dry, the other seven fresh. Agaricus blazei, Dictyophora indusiata and morel carried the highest cadmium and arsenic.
Key numbers
- Agaricus blazei (fresh, n=16): cadmium 1.7274 ± 0.7441 mg/kg, arsenic 1.2620 ± 1.0402 mg/kg, mercury 0.1357 ± 0.0972 mg/kg (Table 3).
- Shiitake (Lentinula edodes, fresh, n=52): cadmium 0.1672 ± 0.0830 mg/kg, lead 0.0223 ± 0.0100 mg/kg (Table 3).
- All 244 samples: cadmium ND to 2.5292 mg/kg, mean 0.3215; 56 of 244 above the Chinese limit (Table 4).
Methods (brief)
Microwave nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide digestion, ICP-MS per GB 5009.268-2016. LODs 0.0003 to 0.002 mg/kg (Table 1); spike recoveries 90.0 to 101.4% (Table 2); certified reference materials stated but not named.
Evidence Fitness
A reasonably large market survey with documented recoveries. The pooled Table 4 mixes dry and fresh samples, its dispersion values look like standard errors, and the exceedance counts in the text (2 for lead, 12 for arsenic) do not match Table 4 (4 and 20). Wild or cultivated origin is not stated. The study measures whole mushrooms, not soup; it is a proxy for cream-of-mushroom-soup and does not support that page directly.