Beryllium becomes because of its enormous toxicity more and more inter
esting for environmental analysts. In this work the beryllium-contents
of 41 potatoe-samples (circle divide: 10 potatoes per sample), collec
ted in all parts of Germany were determined by Zeeman-AAS. The concent
rations ranged from 0.8 mu g/kg d.s. to 7 mu g/kg d.s. with an average
content of 2 mu g/kg to 3 mu g/kg. It was necessary to use an enrichm
ent procedure to measure this low concentrations. For that reason the
beryllium was extracted as an acetylacetonato-complex into dichlormeth
ane. In addition the geographic distribution of beryllium in german so
ils was analyzed. The occurrence of beryllium is in industrial regions
significantly higher than in more agriculturally used areas. The soil
-samples showed a correlation between their contents of beryllium and
other metals.