Kabaran et al. 2020 — Heavy metals in Northern Cyprus olive oil and health risk assessment

This study determined concentrations of Cr, Co, Ni, As, Cd, Pb, Fe, Cu, and Zn in 27 natural olive oil samples from Morphou and Lefka (Northern Cyprus) by ICP-MS, and paired them with a dietary intake survey of 500 adults to calculate Daily Intake of Metal (DIM) and Health Risk Index (HRI). All HRI values were below 1 for all metals, indicating no significant non-carcinogenic health risk to the local adult population from olive oil consumption at observed concentrations and dietary intake levels. The study is noteworthy for using individually measured body weights and dietary intakes rather than assumed population averages, and for its Cyprus-specific geographic relevance.

Key numbers

Heavy metal concentrations in natural olive oil from Morphou/Lefka, Northern Cyprus (mean ± SD, ng/mL, n=27):

• Cr: 123.83 ± 44.70 (range: 50.81–217.96 ng/mL = 50.81–217.96 µg/kg)
• Co: 0.81 ± 2.20 (range: nd–12.17)
• Ni: 30.18 ± 9.77 (range: 11.87–53.84)
• As (total): 0.87 ± 1.46 (range: nd–7.39)
• Cd: 1.53 ± 2.02 (range: nd–6.98)
• Pb: 27.72 ± 28.77 (range: nd–126.32)
• Fe: 875.06 ± 806.85 (range: 74.90–4,248.76) [wide variance; attributed to iron/pyrite mineralization of Troodos Mountain deposits in Northern Cyprus]
• Cu: 7.85 ± 13.54 (range: nd–49.14) [below IOC limit of 0.1 mg/kg = 100 µg/kg, approximately 100 ng/mL for near-unit-density oils]
• Zn: 469.36 ± 312.86 (range: nd–1,131.89)

All values in ng/mL, which equals µg/kg (ppb) for oils at approximately unit density.

Health risk assessment results (n=500 adults, average olive oil consumption 27.59 ± 15.93 g/day):

• Average body weight: men 86.9 ± 16.48 kg; women 67.7 ± 13.51 kg
• DIM (mg/kg BW/day) and HRI for all metals were well below 1:
  • Pb: DIM 1.07 × 10⁻⁴; HRI 3.07 × 10⁻² (highest HRI, against the JECFA “old value” RfD of 0.025 mg/kg BW/day; the JECFA Pb PTWI was subsequently withdrawn)
  • Cr: DIM 4.77 × 10⁻⁵; HRI 2.26 × 10⁻²
  • Ni: DIM 1.17 × 10⁻⁴; HRI 5.58 × 10⁻³
  • Cd: DIM 5.93 × 10⁻⁶; HRI 5.93 × 10⁻³
  • As: DIM 3.37 × 10⁻⁶; HRI 1.12 × 10⁻³

Contextual comparisons cited by authors:

• Cd in Sicilian olive oils: <1.2 ng/g
• Pb in various studies: considerably below the MRL stated in the paper as 0.01 µg/g (= 10 µg/kg, 10 ppb), attributed to the International Oil Council (IOC) trade regulations.
• The elevated Fe (mean 875 ng/mL) is attributed to the iron, pyrite, and copper sulfide mineralization of the Troodos Mountain deposits; still within the ≤3.0 mg/kg figure cited by the paper from the 2010 US Standards for Grades of Olive Oil.

Methods

ICP-MS (Thermo Scientific X Series II) with CEM Mars 5 closed microwave digestion (1200 W, 200°C, 800 psi, 15 min hold). CRM validated (109469 Multi-element Standard II Oil Dissolved). Calibration curves at six concentrations; each analysis performed in triplicate. Units reported as ng/mL (equivalent to µg/kg for near-unit-density oils). Dietary intake survey: food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), face-to-face, n=500 adults aged 30–49 in Morphou and Lefka districts. Body weight measured directly (TANITA BC420 MA). Ethics approved by Hacettepe University Ethics Committee (17.04.2014, decision no 431-1391). Health risk parameters: RfD values from US-EPA IRIS (Cd, Ni, Cr, As) and JECFA (Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb — the Pb value flagged “old value” in the source); for Co, no consensus RfD exists, so the authors used a TDI of 0.0014 mg/kg BW/day from the Netherlands RIVM. DIM and HRI formulas from EPA non-cancer health assessment framework.

Implications

Certification: Cyprus-produced natural olive oil shows Cd and Pb concentrations well within permissible limits at the observed dietary intake levels. The extremely high Fe variability (range 74.9–4,248.8 ppb) deserves attention as a processing quality indicator independent of toxicity; Fe accelerates oxidative degradation. The geographic note that Cyprus’s mineral geology elevates Fe and Cu in local oils is an important supply-chain context for Cypriot-origin olive oil specifications.

Courses: This paper is the first health risk assessment for olive oil in Northern Cyprus, making it geographically specific to Cyprus. The methodology (paired dietary survey + analytical measurement + DIM/HRI calculation) is a good teaching case for how product-level and dietary-level assessments are integrated.

App: Pb (mean 27.72 ppb, max 126.32 ppb) and Cd (mean 1.53 ppb, max 6.98 ppb) in Northern Cyprus natural olive oil are below the paper’s non-cancer HRI concern threshold at the observed intake levels. These values are appropriate as geographic priors for Cypriot olive oil in the app’s ingredient contamination model.

Speciation caution: As is reported as total arsenic (75As isotope). No speciation into iAs vs. organic forms was performed.

Wiki pages this source may touch

• olive-oil
• olive-oil
• lead
• cadmium
• nickel
• arsenic-total
• chromium
• cobalt
• iron
• copper
• zinc

Verification notes

• Cross-vendor audit (Codex, 2026-05-17) corrected the truncated PDF raw_path, added Co/Fe/Cu/Zn to frontmatter because the source reports all nine metals, corrected unit conversions for 0.1 mg/kg and 0.01 µg/g comparator limits, removed the non-taxonomy health wikilink, modernized the source-touch section, and removed internal/Paleo-specific and “safe range” wording from implications.
• 2026-05-26 enhancement (Claude, manual-fetch-kimi re-ingest): replaced placeholder raw_handle: manual-fetch-kimi with the canonical MFK_is-there-any-potential-health-risk-of-heavy-metals handle; populated products: ["[[products/olive-oil]]"] (the food-paper-with-empty-products defect flagged in routing_malformed.csv); aligned the matrices field to the sibling olive-oil source convention ([edible-oil, olive-oil]) — the prior dietary-intake matrix is not in the controlled vocabulary and the routing role is already carried by [[ingredients/olive-oil]] and [[products/olive-oil]].
• 2026-05-26 fresh-context audit (general-purpose subagent) — verdict REVISE. Two ⚠️ findings verified and applied: (1) removed editorial insertion “broader EU/Codex comparator for lead in fats and oils is 0.1 mg/kg” — not in this source (the paper cites only the IOC 0.01 µg/g MRL on p. 6); (2) restored the JECFA “old value” qualifier on the Pb RfD of 0.025 mg/kg BW/day (p. 3 of source flags it as such, and the JECFA Pb PTWI was later withdrawn). Also added Co/RIVM TDI provenance to Methods. The “Cd in Sicilian olive oils: <1.2 ng/g” stripped-citation concern was reviewed and left as-is — it is a faithful quotation of the source’s own framing and does not affect numerical fidelity.
• olive-oil is retained as a source-specific matrix term alongside edible-oil; the page also routes through [[ingredients/olive-oil]] and [[products/olive-oil]].

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.