Effect Of Air Pollution On Concentrations Of Lead, Cadmium And Chromium In Ready To Eat Foods In Some Major Towns Of South-Western Nigeria

Abstract

The concentrations of heavy metals in Ready-to-Eat foods offered for sale in some major towns of South-West Nigeria were assessed.   Ready-to-Eat food samples were collected in triplicate from various vendors’ locations with varying degree of air pollution measured by traffic flow.   The samples were dried, milled, digested to ash and analysed for cadmium, lead, and chromium using Graphite-furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer.   Results showed that Lead concentration in Ready-to-Eat food ranged between 3.8 and 23.6mg/100g of sample.   Fried ready to eat foods were also found to contain higher Lead (6.9-23.6mg/100g of sample) and Cadmium concentrations (2.7-28.3/100g of sample) than non-fried ones.   Deposition of Cadmium was noticeable in samples obtained from industrial locations.   Chromium concentrations in all the locations (2.1-38.5mg/100g of sample) tend to approach acute toxicity values. The findings point to deposition of heavy metals on ready to eat foods at levels that could be hazardous on a long-term basis.

Keywords: Air Pollution, Concentration, Lead, Cadmium, Chromium, South-West Nigeria.