Lead contamination during domestic preparation and cooking of potatoes and leaching of bone-derived lead on roasting, marinading and boiling beef.

Abstract

Lead concentrations were measured in boiled, mashed potatoes and in baked potatoes that had been prepared and cooked in domestic kitchens. Levels of lead in the boiled, mashed potatoes ranged from below the 1 microgram/kg limit of detection up to 18 micrograms/kg with a mean of 6 micrograms/kg (wet weight). In the large majority of cases the lead in the tap water was the predominant source of the metal. Higher amounts of lead (range 11 micrograms/kg to 56 micrograms/kg, mean 27 micrograms/kg) were present in baked potatoes and this was attributed to soil adhering to the potato skin. The extent of leaching of lead from bone during cooking has also been investigated. For beef stocks there was little evidence to suggest that significant migration of bone lead occurred. For beef casseroles, marinaded in red wine, some leaching did occur from beef joints containing elevated amounts of bone lead; however the levels were all below 350 micrograms/kg and, on average, less than double that found in casseroles prepared from normal joints where the bone lead levels were an order of magnitude less.