Locally produced foodstuff can be used in preparing food for babies/children. However, this food item may be contaminated with potential toxic metals either from farming process, transporting, storing and or at the point of selling. On this basis, this study was conducted to estimate the health risk associated with consumption of food particularly, babies. The concentration of the heavy metals obtained were used to determine the estimated daily intake (EDI), hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI). The EDI for the Cd, Pb, Cu, Mn and Zn were observed to be ND, 0.008, 0.0072, 0.0254 and 0.0394 mg/kg/day respectively in carrot and ND, 0.0074, 0.008, 0.0382 and 0.022 mg/kg/day in potato. The results showed that all the heavy metals were below the tolerable daily intake. The HQ for all the individual heavy metals in both samples were discovered to be less than 1 except for Pb which was 2.28 and 2.11 for carrot and potato respectively. Indicating that, there is potential risk for Pb on exposure to carrot and potato. However, the HI which was the summation of all the HQ were shown to be greater than 1, predicting health risk consequences to babies. Therefore, continuous monitoring of food is urgently required to safeguard the health of children.
Key words: Baby food, consumed, heavy metals, health risk, Kebbi state
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