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Abstract
India has diverse agro-climate and produces a wide range of fruits and vegetables. It is the 2nd largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. It produces 74 million tones of fruits and 146 million tonnes of vegetables. Fruits and vegetables not only provide us nutritional and healthy foods, but also generate a considerable cash income for growers. Quality assurance is a prerequisite for high value fresh fruits and vegetables. The quality of fresh fruits and vegetables has a decisive effect on their value. This is a particularly true when consumers have a high income and the market provides a wide choice of produce. Fruit and vegetables are rich sources of vitamins, minerals, and fibers and also have beneficial antioxidative effects. However, the intake of heavy metal-contaminated fruit and vegetables may pose a risk to human health; hence the heavy metal contamination of food is one of the most important aspects of food quality assurance.
Highlights
* Heavy metal contamination is a serious problem worldwide due to the adverse effects on food quality.
* The main threats to human health from heavy metals are associated with exposure to lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic.
Keywords: Heavy metal, Fruits, Vegetables, Pollution.
Food safety is a major concern worldwide. The heavy metals pollution is one of the problems that arise due to the increased uses of fertilisers and other chemicals to meet the higher demands of food production for human consumption. Heavy metals are the major contaminants of food supply and may be considered the most important problem to our environment (Zaidi et al.,2005). A heavy metal is any one of a number of elements that exhibit metallic properties, which includes transition metals lanthanides actinides as well as the metalloids arsenic and antimony. Typically the term refers to elements of atomic number 21 or higher (e.g. Scandium or above) The term heavy metal chiefly arose with discussions of pollutants discharged to the environment in the form of air, water or soil contaminants, while many heavy metals have considerable toxicity, others are considered not deemed to possess significant toxic properties, and, in fact, several of these elements including zinc, iron, copper, chromium and cobalt are necessary for metabolic function for a large class of organisms...