Maduabuchi et al. 2007 — Arsenic and chromium in Nigerian beverages
Maduabuchi and colleagues measured arsenic and chromium in 50 canned and non-canned beverages purchased in Nigeria. The study digested beverage samples in nitric acid and quantified As and Cr by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The occurrence finding is that both canned and non-canned beverage groups contained samples above the U.S. EPA drinking-water MCLs used as comparators by the authors; the paper does not perform arsenic or chromium speciation.
Key numbers
| Finding | Source-reported value |
|---|---|
| Total sample count | 50 beverage samples |
| Canned beverage count | 21 |
| Non-canned beverage count | 29 |
| Arsenic detection limit | <DL is defined as value less than 0.001 mg/L |
| Chromium detection limit | <DL is defined as value less than 0.001 mg/L |
| Canned beverage arsenic range | 0.003 to 0.161 mg/L |
| Non-canned beverage arsenic range | 0.002 to 0.261 mg/L |
| Canned beverage arsenic above source-used MCL | 33.3% exceeded 0.01 mg/L |
| Non-canned beverage arsenic above source-used MCL | 55.2% exceeded 0.01 mg/L |
| Combined arsenic exceedance | 46% of canned and non-canned beverages failed to meet the source-used U.S. EPA criterion |
| Canned beverage total chromium range | 0.04 to 0.59 mg/L |
| Non-canned beverage total chromium range | 0.01 to 0.55 mg/L |
| Canned beverage chromium above source-used MCL | 76.2% exceeded 0.10 mg/L |
| Non-canned beverage chromium above source-used MCL | 68.9% exceeded 0.10 mg/L |
| Combined chromium exceedance | 72% of canned and non-canned beverages failed to meet the source-used U.S. EPA criterion |
| Highest arsenic concentration in the study | 0.261 mg/L in the non-canned beverage group |
| Highest total chromium concentration in the study | 0.59 mg/L in the canned beverage group |
The source tables provide drink-by-drink values and commercial product names. This page reports only aggregate canned/non-canned ranges and exceedance percentages to preserve the brand firewall.
Methods (brief)
Fifty beverage samples were purchased in Nigeria in March 2005, including 21 canned and 29 non-canned beverages. Five milliliters of each sample was digested with 15 mL nitric acid, made up to 50 mL with deionized water, heated until fully digested and reduced to 10 mL, cooled, and filtered. Arsenic and chromium were analyzed with a Unicam Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer Model 929 using air-acetylene flame. Arsenic was analyzed at 193.7 nm; chromium was analyzed at 358 nm. Samples were analyzed in duplicates.
Implications
This source contributes Nigerian-market beverage occurrence data for total arsenic and total chromium in canned and non-canned beverages. It is relevant to broad beverage routing, including soft drinks, fruit drinks/juices, soy-milk beverages, and milk beverages, but it should not be used for brand ranking or for chromium speciation. The values support category-level contamination context and source retrieval for later structured beverage extraction.
Verification notes
- PDF text extracted with
pdftotext -layout; title page, abstract, methods, Tables 1-2, discussion, and references were readable. - No DOI was printed in the extracted source text;
doiis left null andno_doi_assignedis set true. Raw-handle, title/author, and cite-key checks found no existing primary source page before creation, though the later Izah 2016 Nigerian-beverage review cites this paper as secondary context. - All aggregate ranges, sample counts, exceedance percentages, MCL comparator values, detection limit, wavelengths, and digestion details were checked against the extracted abstract, Results text, Methods section, and table footnotes.
- Units are preserved as reported (
mg/L); no conversion to µg/L or ppb was performed. - Speciation: arsenic is reported as arsenic after nitric-acid digestion and AAS, so it is labeled total arsenic (
tAs) in frontmatter. Chromium is reported as total chromium (Cr), not Cr-VI. - Brand firewall: the source’s tables attach commercial drink names to As/Cr values. This page intentionally omits all drink names from Key numbers and reports only aggregate ranges and exceedance percentages.
- Frontmatter product and ingredient slugs were checked against
docs/gpt-collaboration/taxonomy-snapshot.md; no new product or ingredient 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.
| Commit | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 9792010 | 2026-06-08 | ingest: garrity1990-mt1-tissue-specific-promoter fresh from MFK/heavy_metals_peptides |