PJB-2023-613
Comparative assessment of heavy metals contamination in selected date palm cultivars and its significance for food safety
Muhammad Munir, Abdul Ghafoor, Nashi Alqahtani and Zafar Iqbal
Abstract
Date fruits, famous for their unique flavor and rich in minerals, may contain heavy metals and contaminants during on-farm and off-farm practices, leading to health risks to consumers. The current study examined hazardous heavy metals (Aluminium, Arsenic, Chromium, Lead, Cadmium, Nickel, and Copper) in fourteen commercial cultivars of date palm (Khalas, Sagai, Deglet Nour, Majdoul, Sukkari, Khidri, Sheshi, Zahidi, Safawi, Anbara, Wannan, Amber, Rashudia, and Sulig) purchased from the Al-Ahsa local market, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. All date cultivars had safe maximum allowable limits for most heavy metals, except for aluminium (0.20 mg kg−1) and lead (0.30 mg kg−1). The concentration of aluminium and lead were present in cvs. Khalas (0.82 and 3.64 mg kg−1), Sagai (1.34 and 3.82 mg kg−1), Deglet Nour (2.62 and 4.25 mg kg−1), Majdoul (2.16 and 4.09 mg kg−1), Sukkari (3.09 and 4.53 mg kg−1), Khidri (3.42 and 5.09 mg kg−1), Sheshi (1.28 and 3.14 mg kg−1), Zahidi (1.09 and 2.75 mg kg−1), Safawi (1.90 and 3.67 mg kg−1), Anbara (2.40 and 3.02 mg kg−1), Wannan (2.99 and 2.73 mg kg−1), Amber (3.71 and 2.30 mg kg−1), Rashudia (1.92 and 3.06 mg kg−1), and Sulig (2.18 and 2.87 mg kg−1). The estimated daily intake of lead was exceeded the provisional tolerable daily intake (214 µg/person/day/100 g) in all date cultivars. Although, the daily intake of aluminium exceeded the maximum allowable limits, but it is still within the safe limit (8571 µg/person/day/100 g). We also calculated a hazard risk index from the estimated daily intake data, predicting that only lead had more than one health risk index
To Cite this article:
Munir, M., A. Ghafoor, N. Alqahtani and Z. Iqbal. 2025. Comparative assessment of heavy metals contamination in selected date palm cultivars and its significance for food safety. Pak. J. Bot., 57(1): DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30848/PJB2025-1(30)
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