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The heavy metal concentrations of Cu, Ni, Zn, Co, Pb and Fe in fruits-Eggplant (Solanum melongena), Lemon (Citrus limon), Tomato (solanum lycopersicum) and Green Leafy Vegetables (GLV)-Pumpkin Leaves (telfairia occidentalis), Rape (brasicca napus), were analyzed. GLV and fruits were purchased from four different market locations (Chamboli, Chisokone, Chimwemwe and Chipata markets) located in and around Kitwe District, Zambia. The heavy metal concentrations in GLV and fruits were determined using the Perkin-Elmer 2380 Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). Most of the results obtained from the analysis showed high levels of heavy metal concentrations as compared to standards permissible by World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The levels of heavy metal concentrations in GLV ranged from 1.40 to 7.80 mg/kg Fe; 0.50 to 4.10 mg/kg Cu; 0.35 to 4.0 mg/kg Co; 2.00 to 9.00 mg/kg Ni; 0.70 to 5.05 mg/kg Zn; 0.40 to 1.10 mg/kg Pb, while for fruits the levels ranged from 1.30 to 7.50 mg/kg Fe; 0.50 to 3.20 mg/kg Cu; 0.50 to 4.00 Co; 1.17 to 5.10 mg/kg Ni; 0.20 to 1.25 mg/kg Zn and 0.18 to 0.50 mg/kg Pb. The high levels of heavy metal concentrations in most of the GLV and fruits could be attributed to the various anthropogenic activities taking place in the four locations, with mining activities being the most common contributor. However, if not controlled or monitored by local authorities, the health effects that come with consuming contaminated food may be fatal.

The adsorbent pore structure significant to enhanced adsorption capacity of Cr (VI) from dilute aqueous solution is evaluated. As reference, low-cost micro-mesoporous activated carbon (AC) of high basicity, mesoporosity centred about 2.4 nm, and effective microporosity centred about 0.9 nm was tested for removal of Cr (VI) from dilute aqueous solution in batch mode. At pH 2 the low-cost AC exhibited highly improved Langmuir Cr (VI) capacity of 115 mg/g which was competitive to high performance commercial AC. A Comparison with treated characterization results of literature adsorbents/ACs showed that moderate to high effective micropore volume of average pore-size

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