Abstract:
The aim of this work was to determine the heavy metals levels in the fruiting bodies of three fresh mushrooms species
white Agaricus bisporus, brown Agaricus bisporus and Pleurotus Ostreatus available on the Romanian market. The
mushrooms where collected from four different supermarkets. Analysis of heavy metals (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cr Ni, Cd,
Pb) was made using high-resolution continuum source spectrometer ContrAA-300, Analytik-Jena device. According to
the data, the studied heavy metals concentrations seem to be similar to the values present in analyzed mushrooms
originated from other countries and are under the recommended maximal limit (table 1), with one exception, nickel
content. Nickel concentration is under the recommended levels for Agaricus species but is 2 to 4 times more than the
recommended levels for all analyzed Pleurotus samples. This makes the consumption of Pleurotus Ostreatus dangerous
in special for people with allergies, but recommends this mushroom as a fantastic bio-accumulator of nickel.
