Quantitative Analysis of Lead, Cadmium and Chromium in Different Brands of Junk Food Marketed in Metro Manila, Philippines

摘要

Heavy metals are considered harmful contaminants of food, previously recognized to pose both health and environmental hazards. Junk food are considered an everyday food of the general public most especially by children. There are no studies yet describing the heavy metal contents of junk food thus the primary objective of this study is to address such concerns. This study analyzed the heavy metal contents lead, cadmium, and chromium of 36 junk food, through Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy. Lead values ranged from 8.5398 to 0.0093 ppm while cadmium ranged from non detectable to 0.0085 ppm and for chromium, ranged from 0.1261 to 0.3106 ppm. It was observed that the sample Princess Snack's lead content was significantly higher than the allowable limit for lead. The said product is imported from a country in East Asia. In conclusion, all samples obtained showed low amounts of cadmium while almost all samples contained lead except for one while for chromium all samples have content way above the safety limits. It is recommended that more studies should be done in samples that have not passed in terms of their heavy metal limits.