An Assessment of the Wear Element Contamination of Food Processed by Wet Milling Using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy Technique

Abstract

This paper ‘Assessment of Wear Elements in Food Products by Wet Milling Using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy Technique’ was carried out to determine the levels of Wear Elements introduced into food consumed by humans after being wet milled. Samples were collected from a selected milling house in Yelwa area in Bauchi State Nigeria and were analyzed. The presence of heavy metals such as Cadmium (Cd) and Lead (Pb) as well as trace elements; Copper (Cu) and Zinc (Zn) contents in milled beans, tomatoes, sweet pepper and onions were determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. The wear elements detected ranged from 0.008 to 0.017 mgkg^?1 of Pb and 12.42 to 17.63 mgkg?¹ of Fe and Cd went undetected being lower than the detection limits of 0.003 mgkg^1.. However, the trace elements ranged from 6.75 to 11.84 mgkg?¹ of Cu and 9.35 to 81.25mgkg?¹ of Zn. The highest values of Pb, Cu, Zn and Fe in the milled products were observed in Onion paste (0.017mgkg?¹), Tomato slurry (11.84mgkg?¹), Beans paste (81.25 mgkg?¹) respectively. The level of Fe and Zn in most of the samples was found to be above the permissible level of 15 mgkg?¹ and 60 mgkg?¹ respectively as set by WHO (2003). Other wear elements were found to be within the safe levels.

Keywords: Wear Element, Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, and Wet Milling.