Celery and parsley are recognized as medicinal herbs and nutraceutical vegetables due to their valuable pharmacological properties and numerous health benefits. However, in recent years, soil loadings with various PTEs have become a serious concern across the world, leading to plants pollution, which can consequently diminish their quality and safety for human consumption. Therefore, we attempted to quantify quality and safety of celery and parsley grown in Cd polluted soil. We examined the presence of PTEs: As, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Cu and Cd in soil and selected herbs, as well as their physiological responses to different Cd exposures (control–without Cd addition, 3 and 6 µg/g Cd of dry soil). Following elevation of Cd in plants, both species showed increasing trend of As, Pb and Cu in plants, which overcome safe limits, with exception for Cu. Further, celery showed strong phytoextraction ability (99.9 µg/g Cd of dry weight) with high potential to tolerate Cd due to the efficient antioxidative machinery. Besides that herbs pollution was evident on the basis of target hazard quotients (HQ), hazard index (HI) and cancerogenic risk (CR), revealing that chronic consumption of contaminated herbs can consequently endanger human health. HI was greater than 1, while CR exceeded safe limits in treated plants, with exception for As. In the point of view of toxicology and food safety, growing of medicinal plants should be strictly regulated and distinguished based on the purpose of growing, and further herbs usage.

芹菜和欧芹因其宝贵的药理特性和众多健康益处而被公认为药草和营养蔬菜。然而，近年来，含有各种 PTE 的土壤负载已成为世界范围内的一个严重问题，导致植物污染，从而降低其质量和人类消费的安全性。因此，我们试图量化在 Cd 污染土壤中生长的芹菜和欧芹的质量和安全性。我们检查了土壤和选定草药中 PTE 的存在：As、Cu、Fe、Mn、Ni、Cu 和 Cd，以及它们对不同 Cd 暴露的生理反应（对照 - 不添加 Cd，3 和 6 µg/g Cd干土）。随着植物中 Cd 的升高，除了 Cu 之外，这两个物种都显示出植物中 As、Pb 和 Cu 的增加趋势，超过了安全限值。更远，由于有效的抗氧化机制，芹菜表现出很强的植物提取能力（干重 99.9 µg/g Cd），具有很高的耐受 Cd 的潜力。此外，基于目标危害商数（HQ）、危害指数（HI）和致癌风险（CR），草药污染明显，表明长期食用受污染的草药会危害人类健康。HI 大于 1，而 CR 超过了处理植物的安全限值，但 As 除外。从毒理学和食品安全的角度来看，药用植物的种植应根据种植目的和进一步的药材用途，进行严格的规范和区分。此外，基于目标危害商数（HQ）、危害指数（HI）和致癌风险（CR），草药污染明显，表明长期食用受污染的草药会危害人类健康。HI 大于 1，而 CR 超过了处理植物的安全限值，但 As 除外。从毒理学和食品安全的角度来看，药用植物的种植应根据种植目的和进一步的药材用途，进行严格的规范和区分。此外，基于目标危害商数（HQ）、危害指数（HI）和致癌风险（CR），草药污染明显，表明长期食用受污染的草药会危害人类健康。HI 大于 1，而 CR 超过了处理植物的安全限值，但 As 除外。从毒理学和食品安全的角度来看，药用植物的种植应根据种植目的和进一步的药材用途，进行严格的规范和区分。