Nitrate content of spring leafy vegetables from different outlets

Abstract

The issue of nitrate contamination has become increasingly acute, with the awareness of their toxicity on the human body and the identification of increasing sources of contamination. Human intervention in the natural nitrogen cycle has serious repercussions that are manifested by its accumulation at one or more levels. The use of fertilizers in agriculture is crucial to ensure food security, but their unreasonable use causes accumulations of nitrogen in the form of nitrate ions in plants, and from here they reach human intake, over a certain amount becoming harmful. The aim of this paper is to quantify the amount of nitrates present in certain vegetables intensively consumed during spring, sources of food which if does not conform with the current recommendations of EFSA and EU, can become major factors of risk to public health. The studied material consists of 5 types of vegetables products intensively consumed in spring: lettuce (Lactuca sativa), curly lettuce (or Lollo - Lactuca sativa var Crispa), Iceberg lettuce (Lactuca sativa lime Iceberg), spinach (Spinacia oleracea) and wild garlic (Allium ursinum). The samples were collected from different commercial locations (outlets): hypermarkets (H), open markets (OM), street trade (ST) and house gate trade (HGT). The highest nitrate concentrations were found in lettuce in ST (4306 mg kg-1) and HGT (4175.5 mg kg-1), in Lollo salad in ST (4306.5 mg kg-1) and HGT (4602.75 mg kg-1) and spinach in OM (3469.25 mg kg-1). The study findings suggest that ST and HGT are commercial points that may constitute a danger to public health, the ADI value exceedingly even by 107.21% in the case of Lollo salad purchased from HGT. The issue calls for more drastic controls by the authorities.