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Tracing lead contamination in foods in the city of Kolkata, India

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Abstract

Lead isotopic ratios (LIR) of eight common food items, street dust, coal, diesel, sediments, lead ore and rainwater from India have been reported for the first time in this paper. This study characterized the source and extent of lead pollution in the different foodstuff consumed in Kolkata, a major metropolis of eastern India. The atmospheric lead input to the food items, sold openly in busy roadside markets of the city, has been quantified. The mean 207/206 and 208/206 LIRs of the eight food items ranged from 0.8847 to 0.8924 and 2.145 to 2.167, respectively. Diesel had the highest mean 207/206 and 208/206 values of 0.9015 and 2.1869, respectively, apart from the lead ore. The food items had a mean lead concentration between 3.78 and 43.35 mg kg−1. The two ratio scatter plots of all the different environmental matrices were spread linearly between the uncontaminated Ichapur sediment and diesel. The 207/206 LIRs of the coal with a mean of 0.8777 did not fall in the linear trend, while the street dust and food samples overlapped strongly. The rainwater sample had a 207/206 LIR of 0.9007. Contaminated sediments in Dhapa, the repository of the city’s municipal garbage, had a mean 207/206 LIR of 0.8658. The corresponding value obtained from the sewage-fed vegetable grown there was 0.8058. The present study indicated that diesel was one of the main contributor to Pb pollution. The atmospheric lead contribution to the food items was in the range of 68.48–86.66 %.

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Acknowledgements

This work is the outcome of the research project (RP/CHQMIV/2014/115) funded by the Geological Survey of India, Kolkata in April 2014. The authors would like to thank the Director General of the Geological Survey of India, Kolkata, for his kind permission to publish. Thanks are also due to Mr. Saikat Dutta, Assistant Chemist of the Central Chemical Laboratory, for his help in the sample preparation and digestion.

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  1. Laser Ablation Multicollector ICPMS (LAMCI) Laboratory, Geochronology& Isotope Geology Division, Geological Survey of India, Dharitri, Salt Lake, Kolkata, 700091, India

    Avijit Das, KVSS Krishna, Rajeev Kumar, Siladitya Sengupta & Joy Gopal Ghosh

  2. Central Chemical Laboratory, Geological Survey of India, 15A&B Kyd Street, Kolkata, 700016,, India

    Anindya Das

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  1. Avijit Das
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Correspondence to Avijit Das.

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Das, A., Krishna, K., Kumar, R. et al. Tracing lead contamination in foods in the city of Kolkata, India . Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 22454–22466 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7409-3

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