Dutch Scientists have found that it is safe to consume crops of four vegetables and cereals grown in soil similar to that on Mars.

The team of researchers and scientists from the Wageningen University in the Netherlands claimed that they found “no dangerous levels” of heavy metals in any of the samples of radishes, peas, rye and tomatoes that were grown on dirt mixed on Earth to copy the soil make up and texture that is present in the red planet.

“These remarkable results are very promising. We can actually eat the radishes, peas, rye and tomatoes, and I am very curious what they will taste like,” said senior ecologist Wieger Wamelink.

This has caused enthusiasm among those who foresee human settlements in Mars and say that the settlers on Mars would have to take their first food supplies with them and then plant crops in order to survive. This aspect of the Red Plant has also been a part of science fiction films were Matt Damon who plays an astronaut who is stranded n Mars, has to grow potatoes on Mars to survive in the 2015 film The Martian.

The university has so far managed to raise 10 crops since it had started experimenting in this line with soil that was developed by Nasa.

High levels of heavy metals such cadmium, copper and lead is found on Mars. Although the scientists have managed to grow ten crops and found four to be safe for eating, there is some uncertainty remains about which ones might absorb the heavy metals found on Mars.

Backed by a crowd-funding campaign, the research therefore needs to conduct further tests on the remaining six crops, including potatoes, to ascertain which of them or any of them absorbs the heavy metals.

There are number of agencies – government and private, which are aimed at setting up human colonies on Mars. While the US billionaire Elon Musk and the Dutch company Mars One have made public their plans to ultimately create human settlements on Mars, Nasa plans a manned trip to Mars within the coming decades.

“It’s important to test as many crops as possible, to make sure that settlers on Mars have access to a broad variety of different food sources,” said Wamelink.

Earlier in 2014, scientists from the Dutch Wageningen University and Research Center unsuccessfully tried to grown plants in ersatz Mars and moon soil which barely sprouted and died quickly, if they managed to germinate at all.

This time however, organic materials that give Earth’s dirt its edge were mixed with the Mars soil. The new soil thus produced managed to hold water better and provided nutrients for the growing plants. This enabled by the mixing of the organic matter from Earth.

However there are sections of scientists who claim that the pseudo Martian soil is more of a guess while the “lunar” soil is almost certainly a good match for the real thing, given the fact that humans have brought home samples of moon dust before. The Mars soil made by Nasa is not a total shot in the dark and is based on chemical analyses by orbiters and landers.

(Adapted from The Guardian & The Washington Post)