Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

TRACE ELEMENT CONTAMINATION IN FRUITS AND VEGETABLES GROWN IN LOW NUTRIENT AVAILABILITY SOIL ENVIRONMENT BY USING INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA MASS SPECTROMETRY

N. Swathi, P. Padmavathi and N.V.S. Venugopal

Abstract

The major concern of the people in the world is food safety and food quality. The significant aspect of food quality and food safety in general is the state of trace element contamination in fruits and vegetables. In this communication the concentration of different elements were determined by using Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The various vegetables such as Brinjol (Solanum melongena), carrot (Daucuscarota subsp. sativus), Tamoto (Solanum lycopersicum) cucumber (Cucumis sativus) etc and fruits like orange (Citrus X sinensis), grape (Vitis), apple (Malus domestica) and kiwi (Apteryx) were grown in low nutrient available soil environment and procured from varied agricultural farms. At low concentration toxic metals can be very harmful when ingested over a long time period. About twenty seven elements were recorded in various fruits and vegetables by using ICP-MS. after microwave digestion, employing only nitric acid in this step. Trace element determination is important for the prevention of different diseases occurred due to the excessive presence in fruits and vegetables.