Accumulation of contaminants of emerging concern in food crops—part 1: Edible strawberries and lettuce grown in reclaimed water

Abstract

Contaminants of emerging concern present in domestic waste streams include a highly diverse group of potentially biologically active compounds that can be detected at trace levels in wastewater. Concerns about potential uptake into crops arise when reclaimed water is used in food crop production. The present study investigated how 9 contaminants of emerging concern in reclaimed water are taken up into edible portions of two food crops. Two flame retardant chemicals, tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCPP) and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) and several polar pharmaceuticals (carbamazepine, diphenhydramine, sulfamethoxazole, and trimethoprim) accumulated in a linear, concentration-dependent manner in lettuce (Lactuca sativa) irrigated with reclaimed water, suggesting passive uptake of both neutral and ionizable chemical contaminants in lettuce. Furthermore, concentration-dependent accumulation of TCEP and TCPP from reclaimed water was also observed in strawberry fruits (Fragaria ananassa). Collectively, these data suggest that highly polar or charged contaminants can be taken up by crops from water bearing contaminants of emerging concern and can be accumulated in the edible portions. Using these data, however, estimates of human exposure to these contaminants from reclaimed water food crop accumulation suggest that exposure to the contaminants of emerging concern examined in the present study is likely substantially lower than current exposure guidelines.

Accumulation of contaminants of emerging concern in food crops—part 2: Plant distribution

“…To establish that the measured values of contaminants of emerging concern in all samples were not the result of contamination occurring during sample preparation and processing, extraction blanks were analyzed for background levels of all target chemicals. Most of the target chemicals were not detected above LOQ in the extraction blanks; all of these values have been reported previously in the companion to the present study .…”

“…Analytes and their corresponding isotopically labeled surrogates were obtained from a variety of sources, all of which have been discussed in a companion study (; see also Supplemental Data, Table S1). Briefly, analyte solutions were made up and stored in methanol and used to make calibration standards and experimental spiking solutions.…”

“…Limits of quantitation values for analytes in the targeted suite are reported in the companion study . Both surrogate‐corrected, spike‐recovery data and average surrogate recovery values have been reported for companion studies , and additional matrices relevant to the present study are included in the Supplemental Data, Table S2. Analyte concentration values are reported as averages unless otherwise noted; lettuce plant concentration averages are reported for experimental replicates (individual plants within a treatment group) for which there are at least 3 results greater than the LOQ (of 5 replicates).…”

Characterization of organophosphorus flame retardants’ sorption on building materials and consumer products

“…ATSDR, 2012;Bradman et al, 2014). These OPFRs are being detected in indoor air (Hartmann et al, 2004;Bradman et al, 2014;Staaf and € Ostman, 2005), house dust (Bradman et al, 2014;van den Eede et al, 2011;Bergh et al, 2011;Brommer et al, 2012;Dodson et al, 2012;Yang et al, 2012;Brandsma et al, 2014), water (Andersen et al, 2004;Barnes et al, 2008;Cristale et al, 2013;Wang et al, 2015;Schreder and La Guardia, 2014;Rodil et al, 2012), sediments , sludge (Rodil et al, 2012;Zeng et al, 2014;Olofsson et al, 2013), plants (Hyland et al, 2015), and biota (Sundkvist et al, 2010;Evenset, 2009). They are relatively persistent and can be transported within indoor environments and from indoor to outdoor environments.…”

Antibiotic‐induced effects on scaling relationships and on plant element contents in herbs and grasses

“…Antibiotics in the environment have been recognized as a serious threat to nontarget organisms as well as the entire ecosystem, and have been grouped, together with other pharmaceuticals and personal‐care products, in a new group of chemicals termed “contaminants of emerging concern” (Bartrons & Peñuelas, 2017; Hyland, Blaine, Dickenson, & Higgins, 2015). Once released into the environment, they possibly impact on the development of multi‐resistant bacteria, with detrimental effects on human health as well as on the performance of naturally occurring nontarget species (Bártíkova et al., 2016; Jechalke, Heuer, Siemens, Amelung, & Smalla, 2014; Kumar, Lee, & Cho, 2012; Minden, Deloy, Volkert, Leonhardt, & Pufal, 2017).…”