Int J Chem Res, Vol 7, Issue 2, 1-3Research Article


HEAVY CADMIUM METAL DETERMINATION CONCENTRATION IN CHEESE

RUAA R. MUNEAM, ALI ABID ABOJASSIM, GHADEER HAKIM JAAFAR KATHEM

Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Kufa, Iraq
Email: [email protected]

Received: 10 Dec 2022 Revised and Accepted: 20 Mar 2023

ABSTRACT

Objective: The purpose of this study was to look into the concentration of the heavy element Cadmium and its health risks in cheese samples available in Iraqi markets. 

Methods: 72 random samples of six country groups (15 Iran, 9 Iraq, 9 Egypt, 15 Turkey, 15 Hungary, and 9 Saudi Arabia) available in Iraqi markets were collected and analyzed using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer, Shimadzu model AA7000, USA.

Results: The highest average Cd metal level in the samples was found in Iranian cheese, while the lowest was in Iraqi ones. The descending Cd order of the countries was Turkey>Hungary>Egypt>Iran>Saudi Arabia>Iraq, according to the T-test confirmation. The daily Cd metal intake (), Cd target hazard quotient (), and Cd carcinogenic risk () values were less than the permissible and risk values.

Conclusion: Eventually, the health risk parameters revealed that there are no pose risks from those cheeses to Iraqi consumers.

Keywords: Cadmium heavy metal, Flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer, Carcinogenic risk, Cheese samples

© 2023 The Authors. Published by Innovare Academic Sciences Pvt Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22159/ijcr.2023v7i2.216. Journal homepage: https://ijcr.info/index.php/journal

INTRODUCTION

Heavy metals are natural elements when compared to the density of water is five times more [1]. When their concentrations increase in the ecosystem, their effect is negative because living organisms need them in limited proportions [2]. Due to the uses of heavy metals such as lead, copper, cadmium, cobalt, silver, etc., especially in recent times in industrial areas, they have contributed to an increase in the exposure of humans and living organisms to them, in addition to their concentrations that are naturally present in the earth’s crust and which contribute to the process of transporting them through air, water, and even rock erosion processes. Untreated industrial and domestic wastes of human activities, such as mining, oil derivatives extraction, factory and hospital wastes, are all sources of heavy metal pollution, causing destruction to the environment and the bodies of living organisms when accumulated in it due to the difficulty of their decomposition [2]. Globally, the problem of heavy metal pollution has become the focus of attention for researchers and international health organizations. Because of its danger and toxicity and the inability of living organisms' bodies to analyze it biologically, metals enter the bodies of living organisms through water, air, soil, and foods contaminated with these metals. Cheese is one of the foods we eat on a daily basis because of the numerous nutrients it contains and the benefits it provides [3]. Heavy metals, one of the most significant and complicated pollutants, can contaminate cheese [4, 5]. Pollution may occurs mainly as per pollutants intake by animal's produced milk or throughout dairy production [6]. Pollution of the environment of livestock and their feed with heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, chromium, nickel, and cobalt leaves its effect by being transmitted in the milk of those cattle at different levels, causing very serious problems [7]. Many surveys around the world used various technical methods to investigate heavy metals in cheese specimens [8–11]. The goal of this survey is to analyze lead concentrations as heavy metals in selected specimens of foreign and Iraqi-made canned cheese using the device of atomic absorption spectrometer technique. Another goal is to reveal carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks to adult consumers of these cheeses.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Materials

72 random cheese samples from six countries were collected from different markets in Najaf Governorate, Iraq. 15 samples from Iran, Turkey, and Hungary and 9 samples from Iraq, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia were collected in September 2022. Without delay, the samples were put in polyethylene containers; having identified labels for each sample, they were taken to the laboratory. The identifying label has the name of this sample and all other specific sample information.

Method

According to [12], there was wet digestion for each prepared cheese sample. First, the samples must be dried for 24 h at 70 °C. A solution of HNO3 and HClO4 (10:1) was added to 1 g of each cheese sample, which was then cold digested at room temperature overnight. After 12 h, the mixture was heated and allowed to evaporate, leaving about 1 ml of residue. Each digested sample, after cooling, was filtered in a volumetric flask covered with Whatmann paper after adding 25 ml of DI water to it to be ready for analysis. By using a flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer, Shimadzu model AA7000, USA, all the filtered samples were analyzed.

Calculations

Daily Cd metal intake ()

Depending on the Cd concentrations in units in the cheese samples, the estimation of daily Cd intake () from the cheese consumption done by the formula [8, 13]:

For adults, the average body weight (BW) in was taken 70, in this study, and the weight of the consumption cheese daily in was 0.022 [8, 14].

The Cd target hazard quotient ()

By depending on the daily Cd metal intake in equation (1) and the dose of the daily oral reference () in for Cd which equals to [15, 16], the Cd target hazard quotient can be found from the formula [17, 18]:

The Cd carcinogenic risk ()

The value due to the populations Cd exposure calculated by the formula [19]:

Exposure frequency to the Cd (EFr) in days per year was 350, while 30 y is the duration of exposure to the Cd (ED), and 365 was the average daily time per year (AT) [20]. The daily ppm of the oral carcinogenic slope factor from the Cd () was 15 [21].

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

By using the atomic absorption spectrophotometer technique, Cd concentrations and the related health risk parameters were estimated in 72 canned cheese samples which available in Iraqi markets. Table 1 includes the findings of Cadmium concentrations of cheese samples as averages, as well as, the average health risk parameters. It revealed that the rates of Cd concentrations in ppm units for the selected samples of cheese of this study were higher in Turkish cheese while lower in Iraqi ones. The maximum value of average Cd concentration in Turkish samples is attributable to the variation between Iraqi and foreign samples, as well as sample storage manners in Iraqi markets. The average Cd concentration levels in cheese samples were above the maximum rate of the EC Commission, Codex standards, and EU Regulations 0.05 ppm [21, 22], as shown in table 1. But the accumulation results because of the long-time consumption revealed that all risk parameters of health as the Cd heavy metal in the investigated cheese samples of this study below the recommended level. The and of all of the tested cheeses used in this survey found to be below the global limits 1.0 and 1, respectively [23, 24]. The carcinogenic risk outcomes as per Cadmium concentrations is depicts in table 1. Values for tested cheeses diverse from one country sample to another. Referring to the recommended ranges of the Environmental Protection Agency [20], the average results for tested cheeses have limits under the recommended. Fig. 1 shows a comparison between the rates Cd concentrations in the current study in selected canned cheese samples and other country studies (India [10], Georgia [11], Bulgaria [25], and Bangladeshi [23]) which referred that the current study times higher. The descending order of the countries of the average results of cheese was Turkey>Hungary>Egypt>Iran>Saudi Arabia>Iraq, as per to the T-test confirmation. The variations in the Cd concentration ranges of all specimens are significant (p<0.05) for a range of factors, which would include pollution by Cadmium in plants consumed by milk-producing animals, pollution during the cheese manufacturing operation, and pollution by the different types of cheese packaging canned, among others.

Table 1: Averages and standard errors of Cd calculations

Country ppm
Iran 0.135±0.029 0.050±0.010 0.050±0.010 0.305±0.067
Iraq 0.131±0.025 0.048±0.009 0.048±0.009 0.297±0.057
Egypt 0.139±0.040 0.050±0.014 0.050±0.014 0.314±0.091
Turkey 0.167±0.032 0.061±0.012 0.061±0.012 0.378±0.074
Hungary 0.141±0.026 0.051±0.009 0.051±0.009 0.320±0.059
Saudi Arabia 0.134±0.036 0.049±0.013 0.049±0.013 0.303±0.083
Allowed Values 0.05 [21, 22] 1 [23] 1 [24] 10-4-10-6 [20]

Fig. 1: Comparison between current and other country studies

CONCLUSION

The results of the present study, related to the Cd concentrations, indicated that the analyzing results of the samples, according to the EC commission, codex general standard, and European regulations, compared with the world averages, were found to be the highest. However, the findings of the non-carcinogenic ( and ) and carcinogenic health risk parameter based on the Cd concentrations were permissible within the global limits. Eventually, the risk parameters of health revealed that there are no pose risks from those cheeses to Iraqi consumers.

FUNDING

Nil

AUTHORS CONTRIBUTIONS

All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript. R. R. Muneam carried out the experiment and wrote the manuscript. A. A. Abojassim and Ghadeer Hakim Jaafar Kathem does the calculations and the electronic correspondence. All authors read and approved the final version of the paper.

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

Declared none

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