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One of the most significant sources of drinking water is groundwater. Therefore, it is crucial to assess groundwater quality and ascertain potential causes of contamination to address pollution and provide people with clean drinking water. In this paper, groundwater in the Morava River plain is investigated and analyzed for 14 physicochemical parameters, such as pH, EC, HCO3 , NO3 - , PO4 3- , Cl- , SO4 2- , Na+ , K+ , Mg2+, Ca2+, Fe, Mn, and As. To determine groundwater facies and sources of pollution, three multivariate statistical analysis techniques were applied. Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) was used to group groundwater samples based on their similar chemical characteristics and to determine the dominant hydrochemical groundwater type. According to HCA results, groundwater samples were clustered into three groups, including Cluster 1 (72.3%), Cluster 2 (19.7%), and Cluster 3 (7.9%), and the main groundwater type was Ca-HCO3 type. Factor Analysis (FA) incorporated with Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to determine the main sources of pollution. Water-rock interactions and agricultural practices were identified as primary pollution sources in the investigated area.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are amongst the most toxic compounds known to man. Several PAHs are proven to be carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic. Due to their wide distribution in the environment and their toxicity, it is considered important to monitor the levels of these compounds in foodstuffs. PAHs have been detected in many food products including plant-based such as vegetable oils, cereal grains, herbs, spices, teas, and supplements1,2. As the awareness of the healthy lifestyle has increased globally, the intake of medicinal herbs such as teas and spices has also grown immensely. Therefore, an even bigger emphasis must be made to monitor the toxic levels of PAHs in herbs. The maximum concentrations of certain contaminants in food in the Republic of Serbia included PAHs values in dry herbs only by the end of 2019 ("Official Gazette / RS", No. 81/2019)3. Herein, were investigated the sources of PAHs contamination in dry herbs collected from the different parts of Serbia, its quantification and the potential health risk posed by their toxicity.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are among the most toxic compounds knownto man. Several PAHs are proven to be carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic. Due to their widedistribution in the environment and their toxicity, it is considered important to monitor the levels ofthese compounds in foodstuff. PAHs have been detected in many foods including plant-based suchas vegetable oils, cereal grains, herbs, spices, teas and supplements. As the awareness for thehealthy lifestyle has increased globally, the intake of medicinal herbs as tea and spices has alsogrown immensely. Therefore, even stronger emphasis must be made to monitor the toxic levels ofPAHs in herbs. The legislations of the maximum concentrations of certain contaminants in food ofthe Republic of Serbia included PAHs values in dry herbs only by the end of 2019 (Official GazetteRS, No. 81/2019) in comparison to European Commission Regulation dating from 2011. Therefore,herein we focused on analytical method development for PAHs determination in medicinal herbs.