Determination of Some Heavy Metals in Wheat Flour of Çorum Province, Turkey: An Air Quality Comparison

Food security is a priority issue for sustainable global development. In rapid industrialization areas with high fallout of airborne particles, metal uptake by plants could strongly impact crop quality. In this study, concentrations of some heavy metals (Cu, Zn, and Pb) in flour samples supplied in Çorum, defined as one of the “New Industry Focus”, were investigated using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) to determine the heavy metal contamination. The results showed that the concentration of Pb in all samples examined exceeded the maximum permissible limit. To monitor the increase in Pb concentration and its relationship with air pollution, a two-year laboratory experiment was conducted. It was found that the increase in Pb concentration of about 47% and 77% for two flour samples was consistent with the increase in annual average PM10 concentrations (55% and 82%) obtained from two stations.