Fatemeh Tabatabae
1 
, Seyed Davoud Ashrafi
2 , Reza Ghanbari
3 , Hossein Ansari
1, Hossein Kamani
4* , Leili Mohammadi
5* , Muhammad Nadeem Zafar
6 , Abdollah Dargahi
7* , Mojdeh Jahantigh
5 1 Vice-Chancellor of research and Technology, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran
2 Department of Environmental Health, Research Center of Health and Environment, School of Health, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran
3 Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran
4 Health Promotion Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran
5 Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Research Institute of Cellular and Molecular Sciences in Infectious Diseases, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran
6 Department of Chemistry, University of Gujrat, Gujrat 50700, Pakistan
7 Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Khalkhal University of Medical Sciences, Khalkhal, Iran
Abstract
The effect of environmental pollution on contamination and the safety of foods for human consumption is a serious global issue, which has been widely addressed. Heavy metals are among the most frequent environmental pollutants that are extremely health-threatening. This cross-sectional study aimed at investigating the heavy metal content in different types of bread used in Zahedan, Southeastern Iran. A total of 36 different bread types, such as Sangak, Lavash, and Taftoon, baked by bakeries in Zahedan, were examined for various heavy metals (cadmium, lead, chromium, arsenic, copper, cobalt, mercury, zinc, and nickel) by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry. The hazard quotient (HQ) of Taftoon, Lavash, and Sangak was<1 in males, females, and children. In addition, the total health risk of the nine studied heavy metals had a ranking order of HIchildren>HIfemales>HImales>1, demonstrating an increasing potential. The total carcinogenic risk factor for bread was 9.98×10-5 and 3.26×10-3 in males and females, respectively. Regarding the carcinogenicity of heavy metals in bread samples collected in Zahedan, it is highly recommended that measures, such as implementing a food control system, proper flour storage, and training farmers, should promptly be taken to reduce contamination.