Analysis of Pb, Cd, Cr and Ni concentrations in types of cabbage marketed in Hamedan City

Today, due to the accumulation of heavy metals in vegetables irrigated with wastewater and treated with sewage sludge has become increasing concern in the field of food safety and health of consumers. Therefore this study was conducted for analysis of Pb, Cd, Cr and Ni concentrations of 3 types of cabbage marketed in Hamedan City during 2013. For this purpose after buying 30 samples of each species of cabbage and then acid digestion of the samples according to standard methods, elements (Pb, Cd, Cr and Ni) were determined using ICP-OES (Varian, 710-ES, Australia). All statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical package. The results showed that mean concentrations of Pb, Cd, Cr and Ni in Cabbage samples were 15.53±3.43, 59.33±5.35, 2.22±1.61 and 14.97±2.83 mg/kg, respectively; mean concentrations of these elements in red cabbage samples were 23.03±5.89, 37.53±4.21, 13.33±3.24 and 15.03±3.04 mg/kg, respectively; and mean concentrations of elements in broccoli samples were 8.00±3.63, 45.90±5.86, 8.20±3.39 and 16.93±3.08 mg/kg, respectively. Also comparison of the mean concentrations of evaluated metals in specimens with FAO/WHO permissible limits showed that significant difference (p<0.05), so that the mean concentrations of Pb and Cd in all evaluated samples and the mean concentrations of Cr in red cabbage and broccoli samples are significantly higher than permissible limits. Therefore these species is not suitable for consume by human and manage the culture conditions is recommended.