Antibiotics in the aquatic environments: A review of lakes, China.

A review of arsenic in crops, vegetables, animals and food products.

Background Food security is a current major concern. Protein malnutrition, in particular, must be overcome urgently. Simultaneously, food manufacturers are increasingly interested proteins from plant sources. Hence, pulse crops could be exploited as sustainable, climate change resistant and high quality protein sources. Scope and approach Pulses, such as peas, common beans, cowpea, fava beans, chickpea, lentil, or lupin, contain high levels of globulins and albumins, providing around 33% of dietary needs. Nevertheless, there are different compositional and technological problems (e.g., digestibility, allergenicity, or antinutritional factors: ANF) that need to be overcome to consider pulse proteins as feasible alternative sources of protein. Key findings and conclusions The ANF might be highly decreased by adequate processing conditions, increasing nutrients bioavailability and protein digestibility. Curiously, ANF might also be associated with the positive physiologic effects commonly attributed to pulses. In turn, the technological and functional properties (water and fat absorption, solubility, gel forming, emulsifying activity, foaming capacity and foam stability) of pulse proteins should be considered in food formulation and processing, particularly in the development of innovative food products, as already validated at industrial level. In either case, the potential allergenicity of pulse proteins (such as exemplified by lupin), or cross reactivity, should not be neglected throughout the complete production chain, including downstream concerns such as safe labelling. Despite the highlighted limitations, it seems evident that pulse proteins will have a major role in fulfilling food protein demands, contributing to food security worldwide, besides being achievable in more sustainable exploration processes.

Pulses and food security: dietary protein, digestibility, bioactive and functional properties

Enrichment, sources and ecological risk mapping of heavy metals in agricultural soils of dhaka district employing SOM, PMF and GIS methods.

Bangladesh is a densely populated developing country. Both industrialization and geological sources have caused widespread heavy metal and metalloid pollution in Bangladesh, which is now posing substantial threats to the local people. In this review, we carried out one of the most exhaustive literature analyses on the current status of Bangladesh heavy metal and metalloid pollution, covering water, soil, and foods. Analysis showed that soils near high traffic and industrial areas contain high concentrations of heavy metals and metalloids. Agricultural land and vegetables in sewage-irrigated areas were also found to be heavy metal- and metalloid-contaminated. River water, sediment, and fish from the Buriganga, Turag, Shitalakhya, and Karnaphuli rivers are highly contaminated with cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and chromium (Cr). Particularly, groundwater arsenic (As) pollution associated with high geological background levels in Bangladesh is well reported and is hitherto the largest mass poisoning in the world. Overall, the contamination levels of heavy metals and metalloids vary among the cities, with industrial areas being most polluted. In all, this review provides a quantitative identification of the As, Pb, Cd, and Cr contamination hotspots in Bangladesh based on the literature, which may be useful to environmental restorationists and local policy makers.

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/12/2825/pdf/1

Heavy Metal and Metalloid Pollution of Soil, Water and Foods in Bangladesh: A Critical Review.

Contamination of heavy metals in fish and vegetables is regarded as a major crisis globally, with a large share in many developing countries. In Bogra District of Bangladesh, concentrations of six heavy metals, i.e., chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb), were evaluated in the most consumed vegetables and fish species. The sampling was conducted during February–March 2012 and August–September 2013. The levels of metals varied between different fish and vegetable species. Elevated concentrations of As, Cd and Pb were observed in vegetable species (Solanum tuberosum, Allium cepa and Daucus carota), and fish species (Anabas testudineus and Heteropneustes fossilis) were higher than the FAO/WHO permissible limits, indicating these three metals might pose risk from the consumption of these vegetable and fish species. The higher concentration of heavy metals in these vegetable species might be due to the higher uptake from soil and sediment ingestion behavior in fish species. Multivariate principal component analysis (PCA) showed significant anthropogenic contributions of Cr, Ni, Cu and Pb in samples as the PCA axis scores were correlated with scores of anthropogenic activities. Target hazard quotients showed that the intakes of Cu, As and Pb through vegetables and fish were higher than the recommended health standards, indicated non-carcinogenic risk. Therefore, intakes of these elements via fish and vegetables for Bangladeshi people are a matter of concern.

Health risk assessment due to heavy metal exposure from commonly consumed fish and vegetables

Human and ecological risks of metals in soils under different land-use types in an urban environment of Bangladesh

The most consumed food samples of cereals (rice, maize and wheat), vegetables (lentil, brinjal, carrot, bean, potato, tomato, onion and chili), fruits (banana, mango and jackfruit), fish (taki, rui, pangas and tilapia), egg (chicken and duck), milk (cow) and meat (chicken, duck, beef and mutton) were collected from some markets of Bogra district northern part of Bangladesh to evaluate the levels of arsenic (As) and associated health risk to the adult’s and child inhabitants. Arsenic is a highly toxic element, and its presence in food composites is a matter of concern to the world scientists. Target hazard quotients (THQs) and target carcinogenic risk were calculated to evaluate the non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risk from ingested arsenic. The highest and the lowest mean concentrations of arsenic were noted in the Tilapia fish [(0.94 mg/kg, wet weight (ww)] and beef (0.012 mg/kg, ww). The daily intakes of arsenic via foodstuffs were 1.92 and 3.30 µg/kg-bw/day for rural adults and children and 1.69 and 3.04 µg/kg-bw/day for urban adults and children, respectively. The result shows the highest THQs of arsenic in cereals and vegetables for both the rural and urban inhabitants which exceed the safe limit (>1) indicating that cereals and vegetables are the main food items contributing to the potential health risk. The estimated target cancer risks from ingesting dietary arsenic all exceeded 10−6, indicating increased risk of cancer for adults and children in the study area.

Arsenic in the food chain and assessment of population health risks in Bangladesh

The present study was conducted to assess the contamination of heavy metals in the industrial waste waters collected from Dhaka city, Bangladesh. Seven different types of industries have been considered as the major sources of untreated effluents. Total and dissolved metals were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) and compared with different international standard values. In samples, the ranges of Cr, Ni, Cu, As, Cd and Pb were 1.1–7910, 0.11–11, 0.69–13, 0.88–16, 0.01–9.3 and 0.19–11 mg/L and 0.76–1994, 0.04–5.2, 0.47–6.4, 0.26–5.7, 0.01–3.7 and 0.06–4.5 mg/L, respectively for total and dissolved concentration. The study revealed that the untreated activities of tanneries, dye-chemical, metal processing and battery manufacturing industries are contributing to the metal contamination in the surrounding environment. The concentration of heavy metals exceeded the acceptable environmental quality standards due to continuous discharge of untreated wastewaters that pose severe threat to the aquatic environment and human health in the urban area of Dhaka City. Results showed that rice husk can be fruitfully used for the removal of heavy metals from industrial wastewater. All possible sources of agro-based inexpensive adsorbents should be explored and their feasibility for the removal of heavy metals should be studied in detail.

Dennis Wayne Eaton

Papers

Health risk assessment due to heavy metal exposure from commonly consumed fish and vegetables

Human and ecological risks of metals in soils under different land-use types in an urban environment of Bangladesh

Arsenic in the food chain and assessment of population health risks in Bangladesh

Total and dissolved metals in the industrial wastewater: A case study from Dhaka Metropolitan, Bangladesh