Determination of cadmium in Chinese pepper and its health implications based on bioaccessibility

The contamination of cadmium (Cd) in agro-products causes major concern because of its potential dietary risks. In this study, a total of 647 pepper samples from 21 provinces in China were randomly collected according to the distribution of pepper production. Cd pollution levels in Chinses pepper and its health risks were evaluated based on bioaccessibility, which was measured by the physiologically based extraction test (PBET). The results showed that Cd concentration in all pepper ranged from 0.002 to 1.470 mg/kg, with an average of 0.222 mg/kg and a median of 0.132 mg/kg. The highest daily intake of Cd was observed in the female child group (4.037 × 10^-5 mg/kg bw/day), which accounted for 4% of the maximum daily permissible dose - 0.001 mg/kg bw/day. The target hazard quotients of Cd were all lower than 1, indicating low potential non-carcinogenic health risks to residents via the consumption of pepper. Notably, carcinogenic risk values suggested potential adverse health effects to adults, while after considering the bioaccessibility of Cd in pepper (mean of 43.07%), those values had fallen under the acceptable level (1 × 10^-4). This may indicate that dietary risk assessment of heavy metals in crops could not be conducted just based on their content; the bioaccessibility of metals is also an important factor for consideration.