Sadee 2022 - Trace metals in vegetables from Erbil markets

Sadee measured arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, and lead in ten commonly consumed vegetables purchased from local markets in Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. The paper is routeable for vegetable occurrence evidence because it reports concentration ranges in edible vegetables by ICP-MS. The authors also calculated estimated daily intake and carcinogenic risk.

Key numbers

• Sample frame: ten vegetable types from Erbil local markets, including chard, celery, garden cress, spinach, Egyptian leek, wild mint, spring onion, arum, mallow, and sunflower. Each vegetable was analyzed in triplicate (n=3 measurements per type).
• Reported concentration ranges in µg/g dry weight: As 0.160-0.436; Cd <LOD-0.396; Cr 1.653-11.915; Cu 3.956-17.782; Pb 0.244-1.323. (The abstract states the As minimum as 0.198, but Table 4, Section 3.2.1, and the Conclusion all give 0.160 µg/g in celery as the minimum; the data-supported range is used here.)
• The method was validated with GBW10015 spinach certified reference material; recoveries for As, Cd, Cr, Cu, and Pb were 103, 105, 104, 96, and 109 percent, respectively.
• The authors state that estimated daily intake values were below maximum tolerable daily intake, while carcinogenic risk for As, Cd, Cr, and Pb exceeded the acceptable level.

Methods (brief)

Vegetable samples were microwave digested with nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide, then analyzed by ICP-MS for total As, Cd, Cr, Cu, and Pb. Chromium is total Cr, not Cr(VI). Arsenic is total As, not inorganic arsenic.

Implications

Certification: Supports non-root and leafy vegetable occurrence context, with market geography limited to Erbil.

Courses: Useful for teaching why total arsenic and total chromium cannot be substituted for iAs or Cr(VI).

App: Can inform vegetable risk priors for Kurdistan/Iraq market context, not US-market defaults.

Wiki pages this source may touch

• Non-Root Vegetables
• Leafy / Green Vegetables, Other
• Vegetables
• Spinach
• Celery
• Leafy Vegetables
• Arsenic, Total
• Cadmium
• Chromium
• Copper
• Lead

Verification notes

The same DOI appeared in three auto-fetched paths for iAs, Pb, and tAs. This page treats the source as total arsenic only and does not support inorganic arsenic.

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.