Levels of Organic Pollutants in Vegetables and Human Exposure Through Diet: A Review

Abstract

The authors summarize the scientific literature on toxic organic microcontaminants in vegetables published during the last 15 years. A wide range of persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic organic pollutants have been studied, namely polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), phthalic acid esters (PAEs), and perfluorinated substances. The available literature data covers the occurrence of organic contaminants in vegetables and the subsequent human exposure, through ingestion. Benzo[a]pyrene equivalents (BaP_eq) were calculated following the concentrations of individual PAH in the literature and then compared. This review also summarizes Toxic Equivalent Concentrations (TEQ) and daily intake of PCDD/Fs, PCBs, and PBDEs through vegetable consumption. Temporal and spatial variations in contaminants concentrations are discussed. The existing scientific literature is critically evaluated regarding gaps, implications, and needs for future research.

KEY WORDS:

• exposure
• organic contaminant
• polybrominated diphenyl ethers
• polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans
• polychlorinated biphenyls
• polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
• vegetable

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 30800708, 41001328, 41273113), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No. S2011010001083), the Earmarked Fund of State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry (OGL-201211), and Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of Ministry of Education of China (No. 20104404120017).