Table 3.

Cadmium results in tomato and lettuce from 16 of the principal markets in Quito, Ecuador.

Market	Zone	TOMATO (Solanum lycopersicum)				LETTUCE (Lactuca sativa)
		Cadmium content in samples [mg/kg] (dry weight)	Cadmium content in samples [mg/kg] (fresh weight)	RSD [%]	Relative recovery [%]	Cadmium content in samples [mg/kg] (dry weight)	Cadmium content in samples [mg/kg] (fresh weight)	RSD [%]	Relative recovery [%]
1	South	<0.050	<LOQ	--	84.2 %	0.166	0.008	2.4%	82.1 %
2	South	0.115	0.010	5.5%	102.0 %	0.054	0.002	2.2%	119.3 %
3	South	0.100	0.009	8.9%	104.7 %	<0.050	<LOQ	--	81.4 %
4	South	<0.050	<LOQ	--	115.8 %	ND	ND	--	94.5 %
5	Central	ND	ND	--	87.2 %	<0.050	<LOQ	--	80.9 %
6	Central	<0.050	<LOQ	--	79.0 %	<0.050	<LOQ	--	85.7 %
7	Central	<0.050	<LOQ	--	119.3 %	ND	ND	--	84.2 %
8	Central	0.147	0.014	10.7%	112.7 %	<0.050	<LOQ	--	91.2 %
9	North	0.378	0.035	3.8%	78.4 %	0.565	0.027	2.4 %	114.5 %
10	North	0.142	<LOQ	--	113.8 %	0.245	0.019	1.6 %	104.2 %
11	North	0.142	0.014	6.3%	84.6 %	0.094	0.003	14.7 %	76.5 %
12	North	0.157	0.015	8.5%	97.9 %	<0.050	<LOQ	--	103.7 %
13	Bioferia	ND	ND	--	78.7 %	ND	ND	--	77.3 %
14	Bioferia	ND	ND	--	117.6 %	ND	ND	--	91.7 %
15	Bioferia	0.350	0.033	3.5%	116.5 %	0.450	0.024	2.2%	119.2 %
16	Bioferia	0.660	0.058	0.3%	105.0 %	0.431	0.034	1.8%	118.9 %
Threshold valuesa			0.100				0.200
Acceptance limitsb				16.0 %	75.0–120.0 %			16.0 %	75.0–120.0 %

RSD: Relative standard deviation; <LOQ: lower than the limit of quantification; ND: Not detectable.

^aFAO/WHO. General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food and Feed CXS 193–1995 (Revision 2019).

^bAOAC. Guidelines for Single Laboratory Validation of Chemical Methods for Dietary Supplements and Botanicals.