Abstract:

Objective: To study the quality and safety of cultivated products in leather industrial zone. Methods: The heavy
metal elements Pb, Cd, Ni and Cr in the vegetables were determined by ICP-AES after HNO3-H2O2 digestion. The pollution
degree was evaluated by Nimerlo composite index. Results: The detection limits for Pb, Cd, Ni and Cr was 0.3–4 mg/L, with
coefficients of variation ranging from 0.59% to 4.48%, and the recovery rates of the metal elements from spiked samples
were 86.4%–103.5%. Nimerlo composite index was 4.028, 3.014, 3.345, 7.111 and 7.383 for pakchoi, Chinese cabbage,
mustard greens, celery and radish, respectively. Based on overall evaluation of heavy metal pollution, especially Pb, such
farmland should not be planted vegetables including mustard greens, Chinese cabbage, celery and radish. Conclusion: The
pollution degree of heavy metals in vegetables can be judged by the Nemero index.

Key words: metal element, leather industrial zone, vegetables, Nimerlo composite index, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES), microwave digestion