Assessment of the chemical and radiological safety of wild mushrooms and berries growing in the Arkhangelsk region

Abstract

AIM: To analyze the levels of contamination with heavy metals and radionuclides of wild mushrooms and berries growing in the Arkhangelsk region. METHODS: Data on the content of heavy metals (cadmium, mercury, lead, arsenic) and radionuclides (cesium-137 and strontium-90) in berries and mushrooms were studied in accordance with the protocols of the Agrochemical Service Station Arkhangelskaya and the Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in the Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug during the period of 20152021. Total 201 samples of mushrooms and 175 samples of berries were analyzed. RESULTS: The levels of heavy metals did not exceed the maximum permissible concentrations in 94% of the studied samples of mushrooms and 86% of the studied samples of berries. All samples of mushrooms and berries corresponded the hygienic standards for the content of radionuclides. The mean concentrations of mercury (0.013 mg/kg) and cadmium (0.040 mg/kg) in mushrooms were higher than the average concentrations of these metals in berries by 2.1 (p=0.002) and 1.8 times (p 0.001), respectively. At the level of median concentration and 90th percentile, the content of mercury in tubular mushrooms (0.036 and 0.047 mg/kg, respectively) was 3.2 times higher in comparison to plate mushrooms (p=0.003). The highest content of arsenic (0.067 and 0.24 mg/kg, respectively) and lead (0.088 and 0.15 mg/kg) were found in the berries of the large-sized shrubs at the level of average concentration and the 90th percentile compared to other shrub species, but the differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The comparative analysis concluded that although mushrooms and berries from the Arkhangelsk region contain low concentrations of heavy metals and radionuclides, mushrooms tend to accumulate higher concentration of heavy metals and radionuclides in comparison to berries.