Assessment of heavy metal accumulation and microbial contamination and potential health risks in fruits and vegetables cultivated in the vicinity of a landfill in the central region of Brazil

The effects of growing vegetables and fruits near landfills pose a food security problem due to the accumulation of heavy metals in soils and food crops, causing potential risks to human health through the consumption of these crops. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the content of heavy metals at four different points in the soil and food crops produced near a sanitary landfill in Porto Nacional, Brazil (central plains). The average concentrations of metals in the soil were in the order of iron > manganese > copper > nickel > zinc > cadmium, and for fruits and vegetables, in the following order: iron > manganese > zinc > copper. Notably, nickel, cadmium, chromium, and lead were not detected in any of the ten samples of vegetables (cassava and pepper) and fruits (pequi, papaya, cajá fruit, acerola, mango, guava, jackfruit, and lemon) analyzed in the present study. Regardless of the different types of vegetables, age, and gender, the EDI values ranged from Manganese (1.08 × 10?02 to 7.10 × 10?05) > Iron (2.30 × 10?02 to 7.81 × 10?04) > Zinc (1.42 × 10?03 to 7.10 × 10?04) > Copper (1.55 × 10?03 to 7.10 × 10?04). Furthermore, the results showed that children are at greater risk than adults of ingesting heavy metals according to the responses obtained by the EDI, THQ, and HRI indexes. However, the potential health risks from residual metals are considered insignificant based on the results. On the other hand, papaya, acerola, and jackfruit are not recommended for consumption due to their high microbiological contamination, mainly by E. coli and Staphylococcus.