Introduction: Humans are always exposed to pollution, these pollutions mainly include heavy metals and organic substances. These metals can enter vegetables, rice and bread in different ways. Considering the per capita bread, vegetables and rice in the Iranian food basket, especially in Hoveyzeh and Azadegan plain, we decided to calculate the risk of exposure to heavy metals caused by the consumption of these products.
Material and Method: The study area in the current research is Hoveyzeh and Azadegan plains, which are two southern cities in Khuzestan province. The food products studied to measure heavy metals are all kinds of vegetables, rice and bread. In order to calculate the health risk assessment, the formulas of Hazard Quotient and cancer risk were used.
Result: The present study measured the concentration of five heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, and nickel) in food such as rice, vegetables, and bread. The five common types of rice consumed in Hoveyzeh and Azadegan plains are Anbar, Domsiah, Tarom, Indian, and Pakistani. Comparison of the non-carcinogenic risk of heavy metals in two groups of children and adults showed that HI and HQ were smaller than 1 for both groups. The highest HQ and HI for children were related to arsenic, which were 0.0127 and 0.0137 for Tarom rice, respectively. But the highest HQ and HI for adults were related to arsenic, which were 0.0059 and 0.0064 for Tarom rice, respectively. Comparing the carcinogenic risk of heavy metals in two groups of children and adults showed that CRs and ILCR for both groups were smaller than 1*10-6.
Conclusion: The results of these investigations show that the soil or water used for planting vegetables, rice or wheat contained large amounts of heavy metals and did not meet the standards required for irrigation and planting of these crops.