MODELING OF HEAVY-METAL TRANSPORT IN FOOD-CHAIN

A mathematical model of contaminant deposition on plant cover and soil surface as well as a description of the transport through the food-chain pathway to human consumers is presented. A set of evaluations characterizing the model applicability and validation was made on two selected elements, cadmium and lead: - the share of the human exposure by ingestion to elements dispersed in atmosphere; - the comparison of model results with selected hygienic limits as one of possibilities to treat the relevance of individual food-chain compartments to the total exposure.