Heavy metal contamination in wastewater-irrigated vegetables: assessing food safety challenges in developing Asian countries

Urban Farm DB summary

A review of heavy metal contamination in vegetables irrigated with wastewater across India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and China. Cadmium, lead, chromium, arsenic, nickel and mercury repeatedly exceeded international standards, and leafy vegetables accumulated more than fruit or root vegetables. Health risk assessments exceeded safe thresholds for both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic endpoints, with children most exposed. The authors identify weak regulatory oversight and monitoring as the central gap, implying that for urban and peri-urban farming dependent on wastewater in water-scarce regions, contamination control is a precondition rather than an optional extra.