ICP-OES assisted determination of the metal content of some fruit juices from Yemen's market

Faez Mohamed; Dom Guillaume; Nada Abdulwali; Karem Al-Hadrami; Maher A Al Maqtari

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04908

ICP-OES assisted determination of the metal content of some fruit juices from Yemen's market

Heliyon. 2020 Sep 14;6(9):e04908. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04908. eCollection 2020 Sep.

Authors

Faez Mohamed^{1

2

3}, Dom Guillaume⁴, Nada Abdulwali⁵, Karem Al-Hadrami⁶, Maher A Al Maqtari⁶

Affiliations

¹ University Sana'a, Faculty of Education, Arhab, Sana'a, Yemen.
² School of Environmental Sciences, Yemen.
³ University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
⁴ Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne, Reims, France.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Education, Sana'a University, Sana'a, Yemen.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Sana'a University, Sana'a, Yemen.

Abstract

The levels of Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn, Sn, and Fe of 37 samples of 6 types of fruit juices (orange, mango, guava, pineapple, peach, and mixed fruit) marketed by different brands and of easy access in Sana'a food stores, Yemen (2019) were evaluated using the inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) technique. Traces of chromium were detected in two fruit juices and cadmium in seven juices. One sample presented a highly elevated Pb-content. High level of tin, iron and zinc were detected in some fruit juices. Metal content in some fruit juices sold on the Yemeni market exceeded the permissible limits set by health organizations for drinking water. The origin of metal contamination could be likely linked to war condition even though it is difficult to be totally affirmative, so far. Fruit juices available on the Yemeni market are globally safe, nonetheless, further risk-based surveillance studies must be carried out to decrease child exposure to toxic metals from fruit juice sources.

Keywords: Food contamination; Food safety; Food science; Fruit juice; Heavy elements; Inorganic chemistry; Yemen.