Cadmium and lead in fresh vegetables and vegetable products sold on the local market in the Republic of Serbia, 2018–2021

ABSTRACT

Cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) concentrations were determined in samples of 31 species of vegetables (n = 719) and in vegetable products (n = 17), collected during the period January 2018 to September 2021. These originated from 33 countries, including Serbia. The samples were analysed by inductively coupled plasma – optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Overall, Cd and Pb were found above the limit of detection in 123 (16.7%, n = 736) and 90 (12.2%; n = 736) samples, respectively. According to the former legislation, valid until the end of August 2021, the maximum levels (MLs) of Cd and Pb were exceeded in 1 and 2 samples of vegetables, respectively. Regarding the EU and Serbian legislation which is valid since September 2021 the MLs of Cd and Pb for vegetables were exceeded in 7 samples: Cd in 5 and Pb in 2 samples. In addition, 3 vegetable product samples exceeded the MLs for both cadmium and lead according to both former and current regulations.

KEYWORDS:

• Vegetables
• vegetable products
• cadmium
• lead
• maximum levels

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Republic of Serbia under Grant [451-03-47/2023-01/200134]. Also, this research has been done in liaison with the activities defined by the grant for the establishment and implementation of the research-innovation-scientific programme “Centre of Excellence (CoE) for digitalisation of microbial food safety risk assessment and quality parameters for accurate food authenticity certification (FoodHub)”, financed by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Montenegro under Grant No [01-3660/2].