Accumulation of toxicological important components in mushrooms from Macedonia

The fact that mushrooms can accumulate toxic components induced the elemental content and pesticide investigation in the four mushroom species gathered in arable and agriculture land in Macedonia. Toxic heavy metals (Cd, Pb) were analyzed by ETAAS, and other elements were analyzed by FIMS (Hg) and FIAS (As) techniques, respectively. Pesticides were analyzed by GC-ECD (organochlorine) and GC-NPD (organophosphorus) methods. The average obtained for heavy metal content were higher than the maximum allowable concentrations imposed by Macedonian regulation for Cd in 25% of tested samples and in 50% of tested samples for Pb, but below the European Union tolerance limit value. Hg concentrations ranged from 0.083 to 0.604 μg/g dry weight (dw) were found to be far bellow the provisionally tolerable weekly intake (0.004 mg/kg body weight), reevaluated recently by WHO. Volvariella gloiocephala has the highest arsenic level of 4.94 μg/g, while the other species concentrations fell within the range of 0.152 to 1.97 μg/g dw. Organophosphorus pesticides were not detected and not all organochlorine pesticides were present. Organochlorine pesticides were found in quantities less than 0.001 μg/g dw. Higher concentrations were estimated for γ HCH, but lower than maximum allowable values