Abstract
Heavy metals are elements present in trace quantities in the environment and, in small concentrations, they play important roles for the living organisms yet it can cause toxicity if exceeded the recommended levels. Toxic metals contamination is an important environmental problem that was mainly manifested in the growing industrial cities where the levels in toxic metals exceeded the recommended levels leading to the increase of several health problems (that vary from memory disorder to carcinogenic diseases). The main sources of food contamination by toxic metals are the increase in petroleum fuels exhausts and the addition of fertilizers and metal-based pesticides during farming processes. Nowadays, the non-alcoholic drinks represent one of the highest consumption groups worldwide especially in the Middle East and Islamic countries. The current work aims to investigate the safety of some non-alcoholic beverages (carbonated drinks, flavored yogurt drinks and juice drinks) from toxic metal contamination in the Egyptian market. The study revealed that non-alcoholic beverage samples (juices, flavored yogurts and carbonated drinks) in the Egyptian market are mostly free of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and chromium (Cr) contamination. On the other hand, the results of current beverage samples indicate that iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and nickel (Ni), except Mn in juices and carbonated drinks, were presented in concentrations above the recommended permissible limits of both the World Health Organization (WHO) and Egyptian Ministry Health (EMH). Meanwhile, Cu was found in concentrations below the recommended permissible limits.
Highlights
The non-alcoholic beverages include many drinks such as carbonated drinks, juices, energy drinks, bottled water, coffee, tea and probiotic drinks
Random samples of flavored yogurt drinks, juice drinks and carbonated drinks were collected from Egyptian local markets as 12, 18 and 24 samples, respectively
Carbonated drinks Concentrations of different elements in carbonated drinks is demonstrated in Table 1 which revealed that, 100% of the tested samples were free of Pb, Cd and Cr, and that was on the contrary to previous reports that showed high incidence ratios in the samples which varied between 5–20% [2] and 40–70% [32]
Summary
The non-alcoholic beverages include many drinks such as carbonated drinks, juices, energy drinks, bottled water, coffee, tea and probiotic drinks. Carbonated drinks represent the highest portion of nonalcoholic consumed beverages. Bottled water and juices are in the second and third grades, respectively [1]. Manufacturers of these beverages should require unusual caution to ensure the purity of constituents used in this industry such as raw sources of water and packaging material which mostly are the sources of contaminants in the beverages [2]. Carbonated drinks, flavored yogurt drinks and juices drinks are the most non-alcoholic beverages consumed by the Egyptian populations. Constituents of the carbonated drinks are water, carbon dioxide and flavor [5]. Yogurt drink is a superior source of protein, vitamins (D, B-6, B-12, niacin and riboflavin), potassium, calcium and phosphorus [7]
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