Heavy Metal Content of Foods and Health Risk Assessment in the Study Population of Vadodara

Indiscriminate disposal of waste water by industries and use of effluent from the effluent channel for irrigation purpose in the peri-urban areas poses a major threat to food safety. The key objective of this study was therefore to estimate the heavy metal content of foods grown around the city of Vadodara and assess the health risk in the study population. A total of 40 foods and 17 water samples were assayed for heavy metal content using the AAS. The results indicated that the mean Arsenic content of cereals (4ppm), pulses (2.5ppm), other vegetables (1.95ppm), green leafy vegetables (5ppm) and roots and tubers (2.5ppm) exceeded the critical values. Cereals (1.65ppm), fruits (1.98ppm) and curd (2.8ppm) exceeded the critical limits for Cadmium. Mean Arsenic (3.79ppm) and Lead (0.17ppm) content in drinking water was higher than the limits. Health risk assessed using Total Daily Intake (TDI), Provisional Tolerable Daily Intake (PTDI), Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI), provisional tolerable monthly intake (PTMI), Daily Intake of Metals(DIM), Health Risk Index (HRI) and Total hazard Quotient (THQ) for Cadmium, Lead and Arsenic indicated that the study population was at risk of heavy metal toxicity.