The use of wastewater to grow vegetables in Bengaluru has led to a higher concentration of heavy metals in them. Researchers from the Environment Management and Policy Research Institute, who tested 400 samples of 10 vegetables, found contamination above the permissible limits set by the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
EMPRI researchers collected 400 samples from 20 stores across Bengaluru. The samples of 10 vegetables (brinjal, tomato, capsicum, bean, carrot, green chilly, onion, potato, spinach and coriander) were examined to analyse the presence of heavy metals.
While the maximum permissible limit for iron is 425.5 mg/kg, beans bought from well-known organic shops had a concentration of 810.20 mg/kg, coriander 945.70 mg/kg and spinach 554.58 mg/kg. Among the vegetables from Hopcoms, onion had 592.18 mg/kg of iron.
Alas, heavy metals exceeded permissible limits in most of the sampled vegetables. The FAO sets 0.2 mg/kg as the maximum limit for cadmium. But brinjal bought from a supermarket in BTM Layout had cadmium of 52.30 mg/kg. Coriander had 53.30/kg of cadmium, spinach 53.50 mg/kg and carrot 54.60 mg/kg.
