Consumption of unsafe food in the adjacent area of Hazaribag tannery campus and Buriganga River embankments of Bangladesh: heavy metal contamination

The concentrations of Cr, Cd, Pb, Hg, and As in water, poultry meat, fish, vegetables, and rice plants obtained from the area adjacent to the Hazaribag tannery campus, Dhaka, Bangladesh, were estimated and compared with permissible levels established by the WHO and FAO and levels reported previously by other authors. The metal contents were in the following order according to the concentration in contaminated irrigation water: Cr > Pb > As > Hg > Cd. Mean concentrations of Cr, Pb, Hg, and As in irrigated water were above the permissible levels, whereas the results were below the permissible levels for Cd. The metal concentrations in poultry meat, fish, rice, and vegetables were in the following orders: Pb > Cr > Cd > Hg > As, Pb > Cr > Cd > As > Hg, Pb > As, and Cr > Pb > Cd > As > Hg, respectively. The mean concentrations of metals in poultry meat, fish, rice, and vegetables were much higher than the permissible levels. The trends of weekly intake of heavy metals (WIMs) from poultry meat, fish, rice, and vegetables were as follows: Pb > Cr > Cd > Hg > As, Pb > Cr > Cd > As > Hg, Pb > As, and Cr > Pb > Cd > As > Hg, respectively. WIMs for all the metals were lower than the provisional maximum weekly intake recommended by WHO/FAO and USNAS.