High Cd and Pb in Chinese cabbage: how to safely eat vegetables from metal-contaminated agricultural soil

Abstract

Trace-element contamination poses a serious threat to China's ecology, environment, food safety, and human health. Human exposure to potentially toxic trace elements is predominantly attributed to the consumption of vegetables, especially leafy vegetables, grown on metal-contaminated soil. In the present study, the concentrations of Cd in Chinese cabbage were found to decrease at an exponential rate from the outermost layer to the inner core, while there was a small change in Pb content from the 1st to the 16th layer of the plant, suddenly decreasing at the 17th layer. Although there was a little difference between the maximum permissible concentration (MPC) and the mean Cd content in the plant, from the 1st layer to the 10th layer in the edible part of Chinese cabbage, Cd concentrations were 1.1–2.5 times higher than the MPC. The Pb concentration in the whole plant was 1.9 times higher than the MPC, while the 17th layer to the 25th layer of Chinese cabbage was safe for consumption. Health risk assessment indicated that the surface layer of Chinese cabbage might cause harm to human health, especially to children, in view of cancer risk and non-cancer risk.