Heavy metals in fish, fruits and vegetables from Rajshahi, Bangladesh: a statistical approach

Vegetables, fruits, and fishes are the main routes of exposure to heavy metals formost of the Bangladeshi population.Thus, the present study was conducted to determine the content of lead (Pb),manganese (Mn), chromium, (Cr), cadmium (Cd), and arsenic (As) in some keyvegetables, fruits, and fishes purchased from the city market of Rajshahi using atomicabsorption spectrometry.The Pb, Mn, Cr, Cd, and As concentrations ranged from 0.42 to 23.99, 1.13 to 8.11,0.17 to 2.50, 0.15 to 3.02, and 0.07 to 0.15 mg/kg dry weight respectively. The estimatedamounts of heavy metals were lower than the recommended values, but considerableattention should be paid to the Pb and Cd concentrations. Especially, among five heavymetals in three food categories, fish samples were highly contaminated by Pb. The…