Elsevier

Food Chemistry

Volume 91, Issue 3, July 2005, Pages 463-467
Food Chemistry

Trace metal levels in mushroom samples from Ordu, Turkey

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2004.06.028Get rights and content

Abstract

The concentrations of Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, Cr, Ni in mushroom species of Turkish origin were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry after microwave digestion. The mushrooms were collected from Ordu, Turkey. The highest Fe level was 628 mg/kg in Mycena inclinata. The highest Mn levels was 103 mg/kg in Coprinus comatus. Zn level was 162 mg/kg in Panellus stipticus. Cu level was 86.2 mg/kg in M. inclinata. Pb level was 11.4 mg/kg in P. stipticus. Cd level was 1.6 mg/kg in Panaeolus campanulatus. Cr level was 4.4 mg/kg in C. comatus and Ni level was 21.6 mg/kg in M. inclinata.

Introduction

Wild-growing mushrooms have been a popular delicacy in many countries, mainly in central and eastern Europe. For instance, collecting mushrooms has become a national hobby in the Czech Republic. By a survey, 72% of families collect mushrooms with a mean yearly level of 7 kg per household (Kalac & Svoboda, 2000; Sisak, 1996). Mushrooms are valuable health foods, low in calories, high in vegetable proteins, iron, zinc, chitin, fibre, vitamins and minerals. Mushrooms also have a long history of use in traditional Chinese medicine (Demirbaş, 2001; Mendil, Uluözlü, Hasdemir, & Çağlar, 2004). In general, their fruiting bodies, on a dry weight basis, contain about 39.9% carbohydrate, 17.5% protein and 2.9% fats, with the rest constituted of minerals (Demirbaş, 2001; Latiff, Daran, & Mohamed, 1996; Mendil et al., 2004).

According to international data (Işıloğlu, Yılmaz, & Merdivan, 2001; Kalac, Niznamska, Bevilaqua, & Staskova, 1996; Kalac & Svoboda, 2000; Kuusi, Laaksovirta, Liukonen-Lilja, Lodenius, & Piepponen, 1981; Malinowska, Szefer, & Falandaysz, 2004; Svoboda, Zimmermannova, & Kalac, 2000), many species of wild-growing mushrooms possess the ability to take up and accumulate (in their fruiting bodies) several metals, such as cadmium, lead, arsenic, copper, nickel, silver, chromium and mercury (Malinowska et al., 2004; Mejstrik & Lepsova, 1993; Schmitt & Sticher, 1991; Wondratschek & Röder, 1993;). The essential metals can also produce toxic effects when the metal intake is excessively elevated. Recently, both international and Turkish studies have drawn attention to the metal pollution of soil and plant samples (Tüzen, 2003).

The concentrations of four heavy metals in 149 samples of mushroom fruiting bodies, representing 11 species, most edible, have been determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy (Sesli & Tüzen, 1999). The reported metal concentrations vary widely and studies of their accumulation rates are very limited (Svoboda et al., 2000).

Turkey has a large edible mushroom potential and is becoming an important exporter of wild mushrooms. However, qualified studies have not been carried out on this subject in Turkey (Demirbaş, 2000).

In the middle Black Sea region of Turkey, the climate is mild and rainy: therefore, the seasons are normally wet with mild temperatures; especially, spring and autumn are suitable for fungal growth. People who live in this region of Turkey (Ordu) widely consume wild edible mushrooms because of their delicacy and abundance.

In this study, the levels of trace metals in mushroom samples collected from Ordu, Turkey were determined by flame and graphite furnace AAS after microwave digestion methods.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

Mushroom samples were collected in Ordu, Turkey in 2003 (Fig. 1). Samples of mushrooms, Omphalotus olearius, Panaeolus campanulatus, Panellus stipticus from Akkuş forestries, Clitocybe houghtonii, Agaricus porphyrocephalus from Fatsa forestries and Mycena inclinata, Coprinus comatus from Mesudiye forestries, were collected. The collected samples were dried at 105 °C for 24 h. Dried samples were homogenized using an agate homogenizer and stored in polyethylene bottles prior to analysis. All the

Results and discussion

The habitat, edibility and families of mushroom species are listed in Table 1. Trace metal levels in the analysed samples are shown in Table 2. All trace element concentrations were determined on a dry weight basis. The relative standard deviations were less than 10% for all elements.

The trace metal concentrations in mushrooms are hardly affected by pH or organic matter contents of their ecosystem and soil.

Metal concentrations in mushrooms were 211–628, 18.1–103, 51.5–162, 24.1–86.2, 5.6–11.4,

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