Table 2 Mercury concentrations in vegetables and grains grown near coal-fired power plants.

From: Mercury pollution in vegetables, grains and soils from areas surrounding coal-fired power plants

 

Mercury concentration (μg/kg Fresh Weight)

Samples

Location A1

Location A2

Location B1

Location B2

Location B3

Location B4

Control Sample#

Leaf

vegetables

Lettuce

39.04 ± 4.41*

22.70 ± 1.81*

21.03 ± 0.16*

19.41 ± 1.16*

9.17 ± 0.52*

7.23 ± 0.57*

0.35 ± 0.10

Amaranth

46.40 ± 2.33*

27.76 ± 1.13*

29.29 ± 5.06*

7.50 ± 0.21*

5.52 ± 0.86*

3.64 ± 0.37*

0.28 ± 0.21

Water spinach

86.69 ± 2.16*

69.02 ± 5.17*

54.46 ± 4.55*

49.19 ± 0.28*

38.97 ± 3.43*

23.88 ± 1.28*

0.85 ± 0.22

Fruit

Vegetables

Tomato

71.80 ± 11.95*

29.80 ± 3.03*

76.33 ± 5.47*

57.09 ± 8.33*

29.07 ± 1.45

9.79 ± 0.43*

0.73 ± 0.36

Eggplant

42.37 ± 4.24*

13.07 ± 1.73*

43.36 ± 1.71*

25.02 ± 1.80*

14.61 ± 2.95*

3.25 ± 0.41*

0.43 ± 0.39

Pepper

49.66 ± 1.40*

14.65 ± 1.63*

62.09 ± 3.22*

30.89 ± 2.19*

15.75 ± 1.27*

4.69 ± 0.13

0.93 ± 0.84

Cucumber

38.45 ± 1.40*

9.87 ± 0.11*

18.21 ± 1.19*

16.94 ± 0.66*

10.09 ± 0.40*

2.18 ± 0.34*

0.87 ± 0.24

Cowpea

56.31 ± 4.03*

11.63 ± 1.36*

57.30 ± 9.24*

21.75 ± 1.55*

18.46 ± 0.61*

11.20 ± 0.95*

0.93 ± 0.13

Grain

Rice

62.95 ± 3.88*

29.24 ± 2.04*

59.21 ± 4.36*

43.30 ± 2.19*

37.15 ± 2.39*

24.99 ± 1.99*

0.55 ± 0.48

Maize

21.02 ± 1.98*

6.68 ± 1.002*

21.18 ± 0.67*

4.68 ± 0.707*

1.06 ± 0.08*

0.55 ± 00.63

0.72 ± 0.19

  1. Sampling sites are marked in Fig. 1. #Control samples were collected from a grocery store > 55 km from Power Plant A. Bolded numbers indicate that the mercury concentration in samples exceeded the maximum allowed mercury level of 10 μg/kg FW in vegetables and 20 μg/kg FW in grains (food safety standard in China, GB 2762–2012)21. *The mercury concentration between the same kind of vegetable and grain samples collected from coal-fired power plant regions and grocery store was significantly different at P = 0.05 level.
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