Assessment of Heavy Metal Load and Food Safety Risk in Wheat Cultivated in Peri-Urban Areas of Faisalabad
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70749/ijbr.v4i2.2906Keywords:
Wheat, Heavy Metals, Waste Water, Irrigation, Arsenic, Food SafetyAbstract
Heavy metals are naturally occurring elements that, when present in elevated concentrations, can be toxic to plants, animals, and humans and pose serious environmental and health risks. Heavy metals found in wheat grains grow with canal water and underground water is lower than the permissible limit established by FAO/WHO. Likewise, heavy metals are also absorbed by the plant that are toxic both for plants and humans i.e., Arsenic (As) that is considered causes the cancer and other health outcomes. Purposely, this study was designed to investigate the occurrence of heavy metals in the wheat crops grown in the remote areas of Faisalabad and to check the concentration of heavy metals in wheat grains grown with different quality of water. In this regard, five different locations were selected which were irrigated with different type of wastewater (canal water, underground water, sewage water, industrial waste water and mixed water of sewage and industrial waste water) for sampling. Likewise, the control samples were taken from the filed irrigate with canal water. Results suggested that arsenic ranged from 0.12 to 0.44 mg/kg, copper ranged from 0.5 to 2.7 mg/kg, chromium ranged from 0.02-2.7mg/kg, cadmium ranged from 0.02 to 0.6mg/kg. Moreover, Fe ranged from 31.2 to 36.1 mg/kg, Pb (0.1 to 0.7mg/kg) and Zn ranged from 21.3 to 25.6mg/kg, respectively. It is concluded that all heavy metals found less than permissible limits given by FAO. However, Fe, Pb, Cd, As and Cr was higher than permissible limits which may causes serious health illness in the population consuming the wheat irrigated by wastewater.
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