Overview
This study measured cadmium, lead, chromium, nickel, cobalt, molybdenum and selenium by ICP-OES in 12 dried fruits and 26 nut, seed and grain snacks from a Konya market. Lead was much higher in the dried fruits than in the nuts and seeds. Arsenic and mercury were not measured. The filed PDF is the repository original of the article.
Key numbers
- Yellow raisin: lead 1.90 ± 0.0730 µg/g, cadmium 0.09558 ± 0.00193 µg/g; black raisin: lead 2.01 ± 0.0043 µg/g, cadmium 0.12021 ± 0.01030 µg/g (Table 1).
- Dried fruits overall: lead 0.87 (white mulberry) to 2.52 µg/g (persimmon) (Table 1).
- Nuts and seeds: lead 0.04613 (sunflower) to 0.66848 µg/g (roasted pumpkin); cadmium 0.00220 to 0.11078 µg/g (Table 2).
Methods (brief)
Samples of 0.2 g were microwave-digested with nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide and analyzed by ICP-OES. Each microwave set included a blank and one NIST reference material, but recoveries, detection limits and sample numbers are not reported. Values are means ± SD with no stated basis.
Evidence Fitness
Direct evidence for raisins, dried fruits and several nuts, but QA reporting is thin: no LOD, recoveries or n. The dried-fruit lead and chromium levels are high for these foods. Raisins are an ingredient proxy for bran-cereal-with-raisins, and no bran cereal was measured, so that page is not linked.