Abstract: Heavy metal pollution is one of the hot topics in food safety, which has become a problem of increasing concern. The sources of heavy metal pollutants such as mercury, arsenic, cadmium and lead in foods and their chemical forms and harms to human beings, as well as removal methods are discussed in this article. Meanwhile, we review recent progress in the discovery of lactic acid bacterial species able to remove heavy metals from foods and the underlying mechanism as well as their applications in the food field, which will provide references and guidance for the removal of heavy metals from foods using lactic acid bacteria biosorption.

Key words: lactic acid bacteria, biosorption, removal, heavy metals