Heavy metal composition of some imported canned fruit drinks in Nigeria

Abstract

Concentrations of cadmium, lead, chromium, nickel, copper, manganese and zinc in six brands of fruit drinks was investigated. The concentration of the heavy metals showed appreciable (p<0.05) variability within a brand except for Pb and Zn in orange brand. However, apparent and significant variability exist when brands are compared. The mean levels of the studied metals varies between 2.29-18.29 ppm for Fe, 1.41-7.19 ppm for Cu, 0.002-0.89 ppm for Cr, 0.06-1.93 ppm for Pb, 0.21-1.00 ppm for Ni, 0.006-11.29 ppm for Mn, 0.69-1.25 ppm for Zn and 0.002-0.49 ppm for Cd, the levels of these metals exceeded statutory safe limits except for Mn, Zn and Fe. © 2008 Academic Journals Inc.