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LEVELS OF LEAD, CADMIUM, AND ZINC IN SELECTED CANNED FOODS (1980/1981)
Author(s) -
BOYER KENNETH W.,
JOHNSON ROGER D.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
journal of food safety
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.427
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1745-4565
pISSN - 0149-6085
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-4565.1982.tb00446.x
Subject(s) - cadmium , atomic absorption spectroscopy , chemistry , ashing , zinc , food and drug administration , nitric acid , environmental chemistry , food science , sulfuric acid , mathematics , inorganic chemistry , physics , statistics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
This paper reports the levels of Pb, Cd, and Zn found in 39 individual canned foods and in samples of ground beef and sugar collected throughout the United States in fiscal years (FYs) 1980 and 1981. The foods were collected in conjunction with the Total Diet Studies program of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but were analyzed separately from the Total Diet samples at the FDA Kansas City District Laboratory. Before analysis, multiple‐can samples of each product type were individually composited and thoroughly homogenized with dilute nitric acid to ensure representative subsamples for analysis. Homogenized subsamples were dry‐ashed with sulfuric acid as the ashing aid and analyzed by differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry for Pb and Cd and by atomic absorption spectroscopy for Zn. Quantitation limits were 0.02 ppm Pb, 0.002 ppm Cd, and 0.1 ppm Zn. The overall mean levels of Pb, Cd, and Zn found in the 19 canned foods that contained sufficient samples for statistical analysis were 0.19 and 0.22 ppm Pb, 0.011 and 0.008 ppm Cd, and 4.3 and 5.0 ppm Zn in FY‐80 and FY‐81, respectively. These levels are about one‐half as high as the levels found for Pb and Cd in an FDA FY‐74 survey but are about the same for Zn. The frequency and magnitude of occasionally high levels of Pb in individual samples were considerably diminished in FY‐80 and FY‐81, compared to those in FY‐74. These lower levels are probably due to improvements in canning technology, in quality control by food processors, and in the methods used for analysis. Over the next 3 years the FDA will continue this survey of individual canned foods, focusing on adult canned foods commonly eated by children, to monitor the progress of industry in reducing Pb levels in canned foods.