Study of Arsenic Concentrations in Vegetables and Soils in Guangzhou City and the Potential Risk to Human Health

The concentrations of arsenic of garden mould (n=120) in Guangzhou suburb,vegetables (n=109) planting in garden mould of Guangzhou suburb,and vegetables (n=237) from Guangzhou markets were determined by hydride generation atomic fluorescent spectrometry after acid digestion. The results showed that the concentrations of arsenic in various soils were obviously different: vegetable soil(12.94±9.78 mg/kg)rice soil(8.67±10.24 mg/kg)latosolic red soil(4.17±3.70 mg/kg),most of soils were the environmental quality second class soil. The concentrations range of arsenic in vegetables planting in garden mould of Guangzhou suburb was ND~0.179 mg/kg,mean value was (0.017±0.024) mg/kg. The concentrations range of arsenic in vegetables from Guangzhou markets was ND~0.314 mg/kg and the concentrations of arsenic in various vegetable groups were legume(0.038±0.0.047 mg/kg)tuber(0.027±0.031 mg/kg)solanaceous(0.025±0.030 mg/kg)leafy(0.024±0.022 mg/kg)bulk(0.019±0.025 mg/kg)gourd(0.017±0.020 mg/kg). The concentrations of all vegetable samples were less than the Tolerance Limit of Arsenic in Foods for China (TLAFC) of 0.5 mg/kg fresh weight. The TLAFC is the maximum permissible concentration of arsenic in vegetables that will be consumed by people. The daily arsenic intake of resident in Guangzhou from vegetable was 0.045 mg and the leaf and tuber vegetable was the main contributor.