The application of atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) for determination of the content of heavy metals in food products the in lacquered tinplate tins are filled with
Faculty of Technology, Zvornik, Republic of Srpska (1)
Institute of Food Technology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Belgrade-Zemun (2)
Due to possibility of contamination of food products caused by a rapid pollution of environment, as a consequence of incidents and accidents, it is necessary to exert a regular and systematic control of the content of heavy metals in tins filled with food products for the purpose of disease prevention and protection of public health. Foodstuffs, which can be of heterogeneous chemical composition contain or a considerable quantity of water, organic acids, sodium-chloride, nitrates, anthocynes, etc. are added which are the potential co rodents of metals in contact with the contents of tins. The contamination of food products in tins can also occur because of a breakthrough of a protective tin lacquer, or a poor quality of a packaging material. The consequence of the corrosion of tins is the increase of concentration of metals, especially heavy metals, the deterioration of organoleptic characteristics of foodstuff and even the perforation of tins. The atomic absorbing spectropholometer is widely used in practice for determining the content of heavy metals because of its high sensitivity (10-6 g and less), accuracy (about 1%), selectivity and the possibility of application in defining the contents of more than 20 elements. The analyzed tins were filled with pasteurized sour cherry, pasteurized apricot mash, pasteurized plum halves and sterilized peas. The aim of this research was to define the content of heavy metals in food kept in lacquered tinplate tins. Furthermore, its aim was also to determine whether the content of heavy metals in foods, upon having been tinned for several months, changes and reaches the legal level and suchlike tins can be used in human nutrition.