Wild-collected rosehips and sea buckthorn berries from Armenia were shade-dried and analysed by ICP-OES. Six of seven rosehip samples had cadmium of 1.33 to 2.09 mg/kg dry weight, and five had total arsenic of 2.37 to 7.85 mg/kg. Lead was found only in two sea buckthorn samples. All values are on a dried-fruit basis and come from one digest per sample.
Key numbers
All mg/kg dry weight, shade-dried fruit (Table 3, p. 11):
- Rosehip, total arsenic: 7.85, 2.71, 2.37, not detected, 2.43, 6.10, not detected (RC-1 to RC-7).
- Rosehip, cadmium: 2.09, 1.34, 1.93, 1.33, 1.74, 1.69, not detected.
- Rosehip, lead: not detected in all seven. Nickel: 1.29 to 4.29 in three samples.
- Sea buckthorn, total arsenic: not detected, 1.03, 0.24, not detected (SB-1 to SB-4).
- Sea buckthorn, lead: 0.49 (SB-1) and 0.69 (SB-4); not detected in two. Cadmium and nickel not detected.
- Method LODs: arsenic (As) 0.080, cadmium (Cd) 0.010, lead (Pb) 0.020 mg/kg dry weight (pp. 7, 10).
Methods (brief)
Shade-dried fruit (moisture under 7%), microwave digestion, ICP-OES following USP <233>; results on a dry-weight basis (pp. 6-7). Each value is the mean of three instrument readings of one digest; the authors state the replicate readings are no longer available, so no SD can be given (p. 11).
Limitations: one sample per site, no biological replicates, no certified reference material reported, and dry-weight values that cannot be read as fresh fruit. The sites are wild collection points, not markets.
Implications
Certification: The rosehip cadmium and arsenic values are high enough on a dried basis to justify testing of dried rosehip products, but the design is too thin to set a reference level.
Courses: Shows why basis (dry versus fresh weight) must travel with every fruit value.
App: Context only for dried rosehip and sea buckthorn.
Microbiome: Not applicable.
Related evidence
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