Evaluation of Effects of Heavy Metal Contents of Some Common Spices Available in Odo-Ori Market, Iwo, Nigeria

Overview

Oladoye and Jegede measured Fe, Cu, cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) in eight common spice samples purchased from Odo-Ori Market in Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria. The study separated four natural spices from four processed spices and reported concentrations in mg/kg. Cadmium was the main occurrence concern in the paper because five of the eight samples (62.5%) were reported above the WHO maximum permissible level of 0.3 mg/kg.

Key numbers

Natural spices, Table 1:

Processed spices, Table 4:

The table footnotes report detection limits of Cu 0.005 mg/L, Fe 0.05 mg/L, Pb 0.08 mg/L, and Cd 0.01mg/L. The source reports WHO maximum permissible limits of Fe 300 mg/kg, Cu 50 mg/kg, Cd 0.3 mg/kg, and Pb 10 mg/kg in the Table 1 and Table 4 comparator rows.

Methods (brief)

Eight spice samples were bought in October 2015 from Odo-Ori Market in Iwo, Nigeria. The gross samples were oven dried, pounded to powder, and represented by 2 g portions digested with 30 mL concentrated HNO3 on a hot plate, filtered, and made up to 30 mL. Fe, Pb, Cu, and Cd were determined by Buck Scientific 210 VGP flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry after calibration with metal standards; recovery was reported as 96.3% for Cu, 98.5% for Cd, 95.7% for Fe, and 91.8% for Pb.

Implications

This source contributes Nigeria-market spice occurrence values for Cd, Pb, Cu, and Fe, with direct product routing to the broad spices row. The sample set is small but contains sample-level concentration values and detection-limit labels for lead and cadmium. The source does not measure arsenic, mercury, tin, nickel, chromium, or speciation.

Update history

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