Lead contamination status and assessment of potential risk to human health of commercial foods in Guangzhou City in 2017-2019

Abstract

To investigate lead contamination in commercial foods in Guangzhou City, and to assess the health risk of dietary lead exposure in the residents. Food samples were collected in 11 districts in Guangzhou City from 2017 to 2019.The samples were tested for lead by using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The dietary exposure to lead of residents of different age groups in Guangzhou was calculated in combination with the intake of foods from the food consumption survey of Guangzhou residents in 2011, and the margin of exposure(MOE) method was used to evaluate the health risk of the population. A todal of 3130 food samples of 15 categories were collected. The overall lead detection rate was 82.11%, the exceeding rate was 0.13%, and the average lead content was 0.031 mg/kg. The highest lead levels were found in bivalve, edible fungi and flour and flour products. Excessive levels of lead were found in bivalve, eggs and egg products, and flour and flour products. The average daily dietary intake of lead in people aged 3-6, 7-17, 18-59 and over 60 in Guangzhou were 0.368, 0.377, 0.326 and 0.337 μg/kg, respectively. Daily lead exposure of population with high consumption(P95) in various age groups through foods were 1.091, 1.079, 0.906 and 0.925 μg/kg, respectively. Brassica and leafy vegetables, rice and its products and meat were the main sources of dietary lead exposure, accounting for 53.28% of the total dietary lead exposure. The average MOE of lead in all age groups were greater than 1, but the P95 of MOE value of people aged 3-6 and 7-17 were 0.55 and 0.56, respectively, which presented certain health risks. There was a certain amount of lead exceeding the standard in commercial foods in Guangzhou. The average level of dietary lead exposure for residents of all ages posed a low risk to population health, but the dietary lead exposure risk of high-food consumers aged 3-6 and 7-17 posed certain health risks that deserve significant attention.