Abstract: A large scale survey of cadmium levels in soil and vegetables planted or sold in Guilin was conducted to evaluate Cd pollution degree of vegetables and soil and to assess their potential health risks to local inhabitants.Results show that spatial distribution of soil Cd varied sharply from field to field in Guilin,displaying the characteristics of being lower in the northwest and southwest regions and higher in the northeast and southeast regions of Guilin.Compared with the sampling sites for background values,garden soils accumulated Cd significantly,and their Cd concentrations were found to be in the range from 0.056 to 17.35 mg·kg^-1,and their median value,arithmetic mean value and geometric mean value was 0.624,1.193 and 0.696 mg·kg^-1,respectively.About 85.5% of the garden soils were beyond the criterion for Cadmium in garden soil.Cd concentrations in vegetables varied in the range from 0.09 to 663.2 μg·kg^-1(FW),with median and geometric means being 29.4 and 29.2 μg·kg^-1(FW),respectively.The integrated over-standard rate of the samples reached 4.95%.Cd concentration was higher in leafy vegetables than in root,tube and melon vegetables.Cauliflower,leeks,cabbage,onions,taro,sugar pea,radish,spinach,garlic and tomatoes were quite low in Cd enrichment coefficient and therefore high in Cd resistance.On average,the residents of Guilin ingest 9.08 μg Cd per day per person through food,which does not pose any health risk to common people.

Key words: vegetable, cadmium, accumulation coefficient, food safety, Guilin