Determination of heavy metals in canned fruits and vegetables sold in Jordan market

Abstract

In this study, the concentrations of selected heavy metals including Pb, Zn, Cr, Ni, Cu, As, and Cd in different brands of canned vegetables and fruits including canned tomato sauce (ketchup), canned green beans, canned whole carrots, and canned juice (pineapple) imported to Jordanian market were determined by acid digestion and atomic absorption spectroscopy. Samples were collected from popular Jordanian markets, Irbid city, Northern Jordan (11 samples of each type). The metal concentrations in the samples analyzed were found to be in the range of 2.6–3.0 mg/kg for Pb, 0.50–0.60 mg/kg for Cd, 2.50–5.10 mg/kg for As, 0.84–0.91 mg/kg for Cu, 0.32–3.02 mg/kg for Zn, 0.66–1.71 mg/kg for Cr, and 0.97–2.94 mg/kg for Ni. The results obtained showed that Pb and As have the highest concentrations in the most of samples analyzed, whereas, the lowest concentrations obtained were mainly in Cd. For example, in canned tomato sauce, the average concentrations of heavy metals are 3.50 mg/kg for As, 0.50 mg/kg for Cd, 0.66 mg/kg for Cr, 0.89 mg/kg for Cu, 1.15 mg/kg for Ni, 2.95 mg/kg for Pb, and 1.02 mg/kg for Zn. The results of this study reveal that the concentration of some toxic heavy metals (Pb, Cr, Ni, As, and Cd) in canned vegetable and fruit samples being sold in Jordanian markets exceeded the permissible limits set by different health organizations.