Overview
Vincevica-Gaile and colleagues analyzed 30 onion and 30 carrot samples grown in Latvian farmlands and allotment gardens in 2010 for 22 elements by AAS and ICP-MS. Carrots generally held more trace elements than onions. Lead and cadmium means were low, on a dry-matter basis.
Key numbers
- Lead and cadmium: 0.05 mg/kg DM in onions and 0.12 mg/kg DM in carrots (text, p. 121).
- Arsenic: 0.014 mg/kg DM in onions and 0.012 mg/kg DM in carrots (text, p. 121).
- Barium in carrots: 4.54 to 61.64 mg/kg DM, mean 21.26 (Table II, p. 120).
Methods (brief)
Washed, peeled edible parts were dried, milled with ceramic tools, digested in nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide, and analyzed by flame AAS (major elements, copper, manganese, zinc) or ICP-MS (other trace elements). Carrot root and apple reference materials were used. Results are on a dry-matter basis (moisture 88% onion, 90% carrot).
Evidence Fitness
A modest regional sample with reference-material checks. The toxic-metal means are printed only in the text, without ranges or detection limits, and the lead and cadmium sentence is ambiguous. Results are dry weight. The paper measures onions and carrots, not parsnips or a mixed-vegetable product: it is a proxy for parsnips and vegetables-mixed, which are not linked.