Abstract
Soil mercury (Hg) pollution in some areas of China is a serious problem and has aroused a lot of attention on a local scale. However, there are few studies on Hg pollution on a national scale. This study collected 444 published papers during 2005–2015 on Hg concentrations in agricultural soil throughout China, under seven land uses, namely: dry land, paddy field, vegetable field, tea garden, orchard, traditional Chinese medicine field and tobacco field, to assess the spatial distribution of Hg concentration and evaluate its influence on food safety. The averaged Hg concentration (0.108 mg/kg) was higher than its background (0.065 mg/kg), but much lower than the guidelines (GB15618-1995 II) for crop production. The spatial distribution of Hg throughout China showed great variability, with some hotspots due to Hg related mining and smelting activities. According to the Environment Quality Standard for soil in China (GB15618-1995 II), 4.2% of agricultural soil should be abandoned due to Hg pollution, and 2.0% faced a high risk of Hg pollution.
Highlights
Environmental pollution and food safety are two of the most important issues [1]
This study aims to obtain the spatial distribution of Hg concentrations in agricultural soil, and evaluate the risk of soil Hg contamination on food safety across China, based on the meta-data analysis method
The wide range of Hg concentrations and the high standard deviation (SD) value denoted that Hg concentrations in separate studies were spread out over a large range of values in Chinese agricultural soil
Summary
Environmental pollution and food safety are two of the most important issues [1]. Soil heavy metals are considered as one of the greatest risks to food safety in China (MEP & MLR 2014). Mercury (Hg) is extremely toxic to human and animal’s health through various absorption pathways such as ingestion, dermal contact, and diet through soil-plant system [2,3,4]. Recent studies in Guizhou and Zhejiang provinces of China showed that the consumption of grains was the primary Hg exposure pathway for local residents in inland Hg polluted areas [5,6,7,8]. Soil is one of the important sources of Hg in crops and vegetables since their roots can take up Hg from soil, and transfer it to seeds and edible parts [9]. Public concerns over food safety have grown due to the potential accumulation of Hg in agricultural soil [10]
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