Determination of Lead and Cadmium contamination levels in Iranian and Imported Rice into the West Azerbaijan Province

Nowadays, besides environmental protection, food security is an important global issue. Due to the fact that much of the food is provided from farming which itself is affected by the environmental pollution. Contamination of rice on the market to heavy metals such as lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) causes toxic and harmful effects on human health. Therefore, this study was attempted to determine the amount of lead and cadmium in Iranian and imported rice in West Azerbaijan market. For this purpose, 60 samples of Iranian and imported high-consumption rice were prepared from different parts of Urmia city, and the amount of lead and cadmium was determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometric method. Data were analyzed by Minitab 16 software using one sample T-test for comparison of heavy metal concentration in rice samples and standard values. The results showed that the average concentration of lead in Iranian and imported rice samples was 62.93 and 106.43 ppb, respectively. Also the average concentration of cadmium in Iranian and imported rice samples was 20.28 and 27.19 ppb, respectively. The national standard of Iran (number 12968) has allowed the level of lead and cadmium in rice to be 0.15 and 0.06 mg / kg (ppm) respectively. In this study, the amount of these two heavy metals was less than Iranian national standard.