The naturally occurring elements widely distributed in our environment, having high atomic mass and five times denser than water, are known as heavy metals. As a result of different human activities like industrial, agricultural, and domestic, metal toxicity is enhanced day by day. Some of these metals pose a severe threat to the human body, even if these are present in lower quantities, such as aluminum (Al), chromium (Cr), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb). These metals are therefore referred as human carcinogens according to USEPA because they damage the organs in the human body as a result of their non-degradable nature, capacity to accumulate, and having prolonged biological half-lives. There are many routes through which metallic pollutants can enter the human body, namely, inhalation, ingestion, dietary intake, and dermal contact. The uptake of these metals by food items including vegetables, fruits, from soil, and water depends upon many factors like species of vegetables, bioavailability and nature of soil, i.e., pH, cation exchange capacity, and carbon content. Meat like beef, fish, and goat may also be contaminated by metals by utilizing polluted water, unauthenticated feed, and fodder grown on contaminated soil and irrigated with polluted water.

Geo-accumulation index (Igeo), contamination factor (CF), and potential ecological risk index (PERI) have prime importance to evaluate the pattern of contamination and determine the potential risk due to exposure to ecological sensitivity, concentration and toxicity of metals in soil and water. Information about dietary intake of metals is also equally important for assessing their potential risk to human health, so estimated daily intake (EDI), non-carcinogenic target hazard quotient (THQ) and carcinogenic risk (THQ) coefficients are needed to demonstrate to evaluate the human health risk.

This Special Issue aims to invite original research and review articles which analyze water, food items including vegetables, fruits (dry fruits), meat (beef, fish, and goat) by advanced analytical techniques like thermally atomized atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS-TA) in solid state, inductively coupled plasma-optical emission/mass spectrometry (ICP-OES/MS). There is also the green methodology for sample preparation like ultrasound assisted extraction using probe and/or bath, microwave oven extraction, speciation of metals like Cr, and As by complexation or conversion of lower state to higher oxidation state, then assessment of human health risk by calculating Igeo, CF, PERI, EDI, THQ, and THQ.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Toxic and heavy metals in fish and evaluation of human health risk
• Evaluation of human health risk via consumption of vegetables containing toxic and heavy metals
• Toxic and heavy metals in dry fruits and evaluation of human health risk
• Geo-accumulation index
• Contamination factor
• Potential ecological risk index