Abstract
Metal contamination of food is a major food safety concern emerging at global as well as national level. Air, water and soil are the major routes through which metals enter the food chain. Gujarat being the second most industrialized state of India and Vadodara having the highest number of chemical factories in Gujarat is at a higher risk of metal toxicity. Research has also been done to analyze metal contamination of raw food hence in the present study investigations were done on metal contamination of total diets. The objective was to analyze each meal of the day and water sample of the subjects for metal content by duplicate diet method. Duplicate diets, which included separate food samples for each food groups and drinking water were collected from sixty subjects from free living population of Vadodara. Food samples were digested using wet digestion method. In all 250 foods and 24 water samples were analyzed for metals namely, Aluminum, Arsenic, Cadmium, Mercury, Nickel and Lead using ICP-MS. Amongst all food groups pulse based product had highest contamination of Aluminum, Cadmium and Lead. Nickel contamination was highest in eggs. Arsenic contamination was highest in other items. Maximum Aluminum, Arsenic and Nickel in diets were contributed from cereals whereas maximum Lead and Cadmium was contributed from pulses in the diets. Aluminum, Lead, Cadmium and Nickel were in higher amounts in foods compared to their cutoffs. There is therefore an urgent need to look into possible factors for the high presence of metals in food and take remedial measures to reduce metal contamination.
Highlights
Metals are elements that form cations when compounds of it are in solution and oxides of the elements form hydroxides rather than acids in water
The literature reviewed showed that the commonly found metals in food are Aluminum, Cadmium, Nickel, Arsenic, Lead and Mercury and Aluminum, Cadmium, Mercury, Arsenic and Lead were analyzed in food and water samples
Sample preparation The subjects were asked to store their duplicate diets in the refrigerator by keeping cereal and cereal based products, milk and milk products, fruits and vegetables, pulses and pulse based products and other items separately
Summary
Metals are elements that form cations when compounds of it are in solution and oxides of the elements form hydroxides rather than acids in water. The contamination of metals like Lead, Mercury and Arsenic has been found to be detrimental to all the organisms. Metals are released through various sources leading to the contamination of air, water and soil. Metals are non-biodegradable and non-thermo degradable; they enter the human body system through the food chain and accumulate in various organs resulting in various lethal effects (Khan et al, 2009). Metals enter the human body principally through two major routes, i.e. ingestion and respiration (Zhuan et al, 2008). Ingestion is major route of entry for metals in the body, accounting for almost 75% of the total metal load. Metals are introduced in the food web at various levels through various sources. Metals enter the food chain through the contaminated soil and whereas soil contamination is a consequence of use of effluent water for farming purpose
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