El Ziani et al. 2024 — Heavy metals in instant noodles from Benghazi, Libya

El Ziani and colleagues measured Cd, Cr, Pb, As, and Sn in seven instant-noodle samples collected from local markets in Benghazi, Libya. Dried and powdered noodle samples were digested and analyzed by triple-quadrupole ICP-MS, with results reported in ppb. The occurrence finding is that sample 2 had the highest value for every measured metal, and the table-average concentration order was Pb > Cd > Sn > Cr > As. The paper reports total As and total Cr only; it does not distinguish inorganic arsenic or Cr-VI.

Key numbers

Sample-level values from Table 1:

The abstract states that measured concentrations were “within the WHO permissible limits, except for Sample No. 2” for cadmium. Table 1, however, prints a WHO Cd comparator of 3.00 ppb and shows samples 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7 above 3.00 ppb. The lead discussion also contains inconsistent prose: it says samples 2 and 4 exceeded 40 ppb and that none conformed to the 25.00 ppb standard, while Table 1 shows only sample 2 above 25.00 ppb. For occurrence routing, Table 1 values are the controlling extracted numbers.

Methods (brief)

Seven noodle samples were randomly collected from local markets in Benghazi, Libya, removed from packaging, sorted, numbered 1-7, and stored in plastic containers. Dried and powdered samples were digested from 0.5 +/- 0.0005 g portions with 10 mL HNO3 and 3 mL 60% HClO4, gently heated until perchloric-acid fumes appeared, cooled, treated with 10 mL HCl, and transferred to 50 mL volumetric flasks. Metals were measured using an iCAP triple-quadrupole ICP-MS from Thermo Scientific with Qtegra software. The paper reports total elements only and does not provide arsenic or chromium speciation.

Implications

This source contributes Libya-market instant-noodle occurrence data for Cd, Pb, total As, total Cr, and Sn. The sample-level table is compact and directly extractable, but the regulatory-comparator prose has internal inconsistencies, so any compliance discussion should be rebuilt from Table 1 rather than quoted from the narrative. It is useful for pasta/noodle product routing and for tin occurrence in a non-canned processed-food matrix. It is not suitable for iAs or Cr-VI pooling because the study reports total As and total Cr.

Verification notes

• PDF text extracted with pdftotext -layout; the extracted text contained a readable bilingual title page, DOI, methods, Table 1, discussion, and conclusion.
• DOI verified from the title page as 10.51984/JOPAS.V23I2.3111; DOI, raw handle MFK_jopas-v23i2-3111, and cite-key checks found no existing source page before creation.
• All concentration values in Key numbers were checked against Table 1. Units are preserved as ppb; no conversion to mg/kg or µg/kg was performed.
• Speciation: arsenic is total As and chromium is total Cr. The source does not report iAs or Cr-VI.
• Brand firewall: samples are numbered 1-7; no consumer brand names are attached to contamination values.
• Internal consistency: Table 1 conflicts with parts of the Cd and Pb comparator prose. This page treats Table 1 as the occurrence source of truth and records the prose conflicts above.
• Frontmatter product and ingredient slugs were checked against docs/gpt-collaboration/taxonomy-snapshot.md; no new slug was invented.

Page history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page. The full version history lives in git; when DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.