Heavy Metals/Metalloids in Food Crops and Their Implications for Human Health

Abstract

Heavy metal/metalloid contamination in the food chain is getting an increasing concern across the globe. The majority of the toxic heavy metals/metalloids are earth materials, thereby naturally finding their way into the food chain. Many anthropogenic activities unexpectedly increase their concentration in the foodstuffs, thereby threatening humans’ and animals’ health. A detailed mechanistic discussion will help understand the heavy metal/metalloid dynamics in the soil-water systems and physiological/molecular translocation mechanisms involved in their uptake in plants and their partitioning in different plant parts of food crops. Heavy metal(oid)s (arsenic, cadmium, lead, chromium, and mercury) affect human health in various ways and finally develop carcinogenic symptoms and lead to mortality. Therefore, this chapter discusses the sources and forms, food chain contamination, pharmacokinetic processes, toxicology processes, and remedial options of different heavy metals/metalloids. This chapter also describes the biogeochemical cycling of different heavy metals/metalloids to formulate the management strategies and remediation activities for checking heavy metal/metalloid contamination and safe food production.