Abstract
The use of wastewater for growing vegetables has become a common practice in peri-urban areas of big cities of developing world including Pakistan. In addition to providing essential elements and organic matter for plant growth, wastewater may contain potentially toxic trace elements that could pose serious threat to animals and humans, if their concentrations in edible parts increase the permissible limits. To monitor the heavy metals contents in commercially available vegetables, vegetable samples were collected from three main vegetable stores designated as A, B and C, respectively of Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan. These samples were analyzed for dietary contents (protein, fat, fiber, and carbohydrates) and heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), copper (Cu), and nickel (Ni). The results revealed that among the three vegetables, spinach accumulated higher contents of heavy metals followed by lettuce and fenugreek. Multivariate analysis indicated that the vegetables collected from locations A and C had higher metal contents than the permissible limits. The samples collected from location B were safe for human consumptions. Due to high metal contents, vegetables collected from locations A and C could potentially pose carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health hazards to human beings. It is concluded that proper monitoring and regulatory measures should be done regarding the source of irrigation and post-harvest handling of vegetables in order to limit the entry of toxic metals into human food chain
Sadia Bibi, Bilal Abbas. (2021) MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF HEAVY METALS CONTENTS AND ASSOCIATED HEALTH HAZARDS IN COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE VEGETABLES IN FAISALABAD, PAKISTAN, Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, Volume 58, Issue 2.
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