Determination of Some Micro and Macronutrient Elements in Various Cold Press Vegetable Oils

The aim of this study was to determine the amount of some heavy metals and macro elements in various cold pressed vegetable oils produced by cold pressing. For this reason, commonly consumed nationally available brands of cold pressed vegetable oils were selected for analysis and purchased locally. These cold pressed vegetable oils are easily obtainable from local market and using edible; sunflower oil, safflower oil, flax seed oil, hazelnut oil, walnut oil, almond oil, pumpkin seed oil, peanut oil and sesame oil. The content of elements such as Na, Ca, Mg, K, P, Al, Fe, Zn, Hg, Pb, Ni, Sn, S, As, Cd, Co, Cu, Mn, Cr in the cold pressed vegetable oils were determined by using inductively-coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The elements contents varied among cold pressed vegetable oil types and brands. According to the analysis of variance, the differences among samples were statistically significant. According to the finding of the research, any amount of Pb, Hg and Al were not detected in some of cold pressed vegetable oils. However, these elements contents in some cold pressed vegetable oils were detected on high level. The obtained these results in the research were compared with values in literatures and were evaluated according to legal limits. Potential sources of heavy metals contamination in the cold pressed vegetable oils were also discussed