Overview
The authors measured lead by ICP-OES in spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots and potatoes from private gardens at six sites: two near the former lead-zinc smelter in Veles, two near the REK Bitola thermal power plant, and one distant control site in each region. Spinach carried the most lead, and only cucumbers at one power-plant site exceeded a Codex maximum level. The paper then estimated intake with the EFSA DietEx tool and margins of exposure.
Key numbers
- Spinach, 1.5 km from the former smelter (S2): lead 0.1731 mg/kg fresh weight, against 0.0232 at the Veles control site (Table 2, p. 7).
- Cucumbers near the power plant (S4): 0.0823 mg/kg fresh weight, above the Codex 0.05 mg/kg (Table 2, p. 7).
- Tomatoes and potatoes at the Bitola control site (S6): not detected, LOD 0.024 mg/kg dry weight (Table 2, pp. 7-8).
- Dry-weight range across all detected samples: 0.1238 to 2.0972 mg/kg (Section 3, p. 6).
Methods (brief)
One composite per vegetable per site (1 kg; ten individual lettuces) was washed, oven-dried at 105 °C and digested with nitric acid, with three independent digestions per composite. Lead was read by ICP-OES at 220.353 nm (LOD 0.0242, LOQ 0.08 mg/kg dry weight). Results were converted to fresh weight using measured moisture (80.9% to 96.8%).
Evidence Fitness
Each value is one composite per vegetable and site, so the minimum and maximum describe analytical replicates, not differences between plants. Four of six sites were chosen for their proximity to industrial lead sources (site_context industrial); the two control sites are ordinary garden settings. Quality control covered blanks and instrument calibration checks only; the authors state that no matrix reference material or spike recovery was run. Collection dates are not reported. Carrots and potatoes are root and tuber vegetables and do not represent non-root vegetables.