Food Safety and Bioavailability Evaluations of Four Vegetables Grown in the Highly Arsenic-Contaminated Soils on the Guandu Plain of Northern Taiwan

Shaw-Wei Su, Chun-Chih Tsui, Hung-Yu Lai and Zueng-Sang Chen
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Shaw-Wei Su: Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Chun-Chih Tsui: Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Hung-Yu Lai: Department of Post-Modern Agriculture, MingDao University, Changhua 52345, Taiwan
Zueng-Sang Chen: Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2014, vol. 11, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: Arsenic contamination in a large area of agricultural fields on the Guandu Plain of northern Taiwan was confirmed in a survey conducted in 2006, but research concerning the relationship between bioavailable As concentrations in contaminated soils and crop production in Taiwan is not available. Pot experiments were conducted to examine the growth and accumulation of As in four vegetable crops grown in As-contaminated soils and to assess As intake through consumption. The phytotoxic effects of As in soils were not shown in the pot experiments in which vegetable crops were grown in soils contaminated with different As levels in situ collected from Guandu Plain (120–460 mg/kg) or artificially spiked As-contaminated soils (50–170 mg/kg). Experimental results showed that the bioavailable As extracted with 0.5M NaHCO 3 from soils can be used to estimate As concentrations in vegetables. The As concentrations in the vegetables were compared with data shown in the literature and As limits calculated from drinking water standards and the provisional tolerance weekly intake (PTWI) of inorganic As established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations/World Health Organization (FAO/WHO). Although the As levels in the vegetables were not high and the bioavailability of As in the soils was quite low, long-term consumption may result in higher As intake in the human body.

Keywords: arsenic (As); soil testing; vegetables; phytotoxicity; provisional tolerance weekly intake (PTWI); extraction method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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