Pb exposure from plant foods in Iran: a review

ABSTRACT

Lead (Pb) is a heavy metal with high toxicity and non-biodegradability that could accumulate in food sources. In Iran, studies on the Pb contamination in plant food sources (including cereals and legumes, vegetables and their derived products, fruits and fruit products, tea leaves, and vegetable oils) were systematically reviewed in the present work. Almost half of the studies conducted in each plant food category reported the Pb contamination higher than the maximum allowable limits, posing health risks to consumers. Therefore, these results could be considered in risk management to decrease Pb exposure from dietary intake and improve food safety in Iran.

KEYWORDS:

• Food
• plant
• contamination
• occurrence
• heavy metal
• lead
• Iran

Disclosure statement

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

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