Volume 537, 15 December 2015, Pages 470–478
Highlights
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- Mushrooms are an important food in some regions of the world.
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- Mercury in mushrooms genus Leccinum from Yunnan, China and Poland was measured.
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- Mushrooms from mercuriferous belt in Yunnan showed elevated concentrations.
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- Mushrooms genus Leccinum efficiently accumulate geogenic Hg.
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- Consumption of mushrooms poses no health risk for either region.
Abstract
This study focused on investigation of the accumulation and distribution of mercury (Hg) in mushrooms of the genus Leccinum
that emerged on soils of totally different geochemical bedrock
composition. Hg in 6 species from geographically diverse regions of the
mercuriferous belt areas in Yunnan of SW China, and 8 species from the
non-mercuriferous regions of Poland in Europe was measured. Also
assessed was the probable dietary intake of Hg from consumption of Leccinum spp., which are traditional organic food items in SW China and Poland. The results showed that L. chromapes, L. extremiorientale, L. griseum and L. rugosicepes are good accumulators of Hg and the sequestered Hg in caps were up to 4.8, 3.5, 3.6 and 4.7 mg Hg kg− 1 dry matter respectively. Leccinum
mushrooms from Poland also efficiently accumulated Hg with their
average Hg content being an order of magnitude lower due to low
concentrations of Hg in forest topsoil of Poland compared to the
elevated contents in Yunnan. Consumption of Leccinum mushrooms
with elevated Hg contents in Yunnan at rates of up to 300 g fresh
product per week during the foraging season would not result in Hg
intake that exceeds the provisional weekly tolerance limit of
0.004 mg kg− 1 body mass, assuming no Hg ingestion from other foods.
Graphical abstract
Keywords
- Foraging;
- Fungi;
- China;
- Poland;
- Leccinum
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