Abstract
Fritillaria thunbergii Miq. (Zhe Beimu, F. thunbergii) is widely cultivated in China’s Zhejiang province, and pesticides and heavy metals are two major factors affecting its quality and safety. A total of 106 F. thunbergii samples from six main production areas were analyzed for 76 pesticides and four heavy metal content (As, Cd, Hg, and Pb). The pesticide detection rate of the samples was 66.98%; overall, the pesticide residues were very low, and residue levels ranged from 0.010 to 0.231 mg kg−1. The detection rates of As, Cd, Hg, and Pb were 95.3%, 100%, 76.4%, and 100%, respectively. A risk assessment of human exposure to pesticides and heavy metals via intake of F. thunbergii was performed, and the results revealed that the pesticide residues and heavy metal content detected in F. thunbergii does not pose a potential risk to human health, either in the long or short term. The exposure assessment showed that the levels of pesticides and heavy metals in F. thunbergii were safe for human consumption. These results provide useful information on F. thunbergii consumption.
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Authors would like to thank Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’Republic of China, for the invaluable support by the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFF0213406 & 2018YFF0213505).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Caixia Sun, Yuhong Liu, Ke Bei, Weiran Zheng and Guoguang Yu. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Yuhong Liu and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Liu, Y., Bei, K., Zheng, W. et al. Assessment of health risks associated with pesticide and heavy metal contents in Fritillaria thunbergii Miq. (Zhe Beimu). Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 26807–26818 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23995-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23995-6