A Study on Evaluation of the Selected Heavy Metal Contents in Some Organic Certified Dried Nuts

The aim of this research was to determine the levels of heavy metals as lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), chromium (Cr), mercury (Hg), iron (Fe), tin (Sn) and arsenic (As) in a total of 120 samples of eight different organic certified nuts. The organic certified dried nuts used in this study were almonds, walnuts, pistachios, nuts, apricot kernels, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and corn, that are widely and traditionally consumed in Turkey. The contents of these heavy metals in the samples were determined by using the device inductively-coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) after acid digestion procedure. Based on the results, the heavy metal contents varied among organic certified nuts types and brands. According to the analysis of variance, the differences among samples were statistically significant (P<0.01). According to the finding of the research, any amount of Pb, Hg and Sn were not detected in the organic certified nuts. In the organic certified nuts, the levels ranged from 5.53-123.78 ppb Cd, 8.22-16.62 ppm Cu, 0.24-1.86 ppm Ni, 15.03-46.37 ppm Zn, 444.1-810.6 ppb Cr, 22.06-67.42 ppm Fe and 1.24-3.14 ppb As. The obtained these results in the research were compared with values in literatures. In addition, the concentration of these metals in the organic certified dried nuts was compared with national and international codex limit values. Potential sources of heavy metals contamination in the organic certified nuts were also discussed