Accumulation of Heavy Metals by Vegetables Grown in Kembu Farms, Gombe, Nigeria

Background: Contamination of vegetables with heavy metals is a health concern. Therefore, monitoring levels of heavy metals in vegetables can provide useful information for promoting food safety. The level of heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in mg/kg) in vegetable samples from different farms in Kembu, Gombe, North Eastern Nigeria were assessed by using atomic absorption spectrophotometry method.

Methods: Samples of vegetables including tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and spinach (Spinacia oleracea) were collected from production/farming sites in Kembu and analyzed for presence of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn by atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) after extraction by drying, grounding and acid digestion.

Results: The level of Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd did not indicate excessive contamination that could be considered a serious health hazard to the consumers except for the tomato samples in which the level of Pb was higher than the minimum Pb permissible level for human consumption approved by WHO/FAO (2007) and EU (2006) and are thus, considered unsafe to be used.