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The contamination of Cadmium (Cd) in agro-products causes major concern because of its potential dietary risks. In this study, 647 pepper samples from 21 provinces in China were randomly collected according to the distribution of pepper production. Based on the data of Cd contents in pepper and the bioaccessibility measured by the physiologically-based extraction test (PBET), the contamination levels and health risks of Chinese pepper were accurately evaluated. 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 (4.037×10 − 5 mg/kg bw/day) was observed in female child group which accounted for 4% of the maximum daily permissible dose − 0.001mg/kg bw/day. The target hazard quotients of Cd were all lower than 1, indicating low potential noncarcinogenic health risk 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.

The contamination of Cadmium (Cd) in agro-products causes major concern because of its potential dietary risks. In this study, 647 pepper samples from 21 provinces in China were randomly collected according to the distribution of pepper production. Based on the data of Cd contents in pepper and the bioaccessibility measured by the physiologically-based extraction test (PBET), the contamination levels and health risks of Chinese pepper were accurately evaluated. 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 (4.037×10− 5 mg/kg bw/day) was observed in female child group which accounted for 4% of the maximum daily permissible dose − 0.001mg/kg bw/day. The target hazard quotients of Cd were all lower than 1, indicating low potential non-carcinogenic health risk 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.