Evaluating of Heavy Metal Contaminations in the Most Applicable Food Spices and Flavors in Hamedan, Iran

Background & Aims of the Study: Iranian food diet contains nutrients and herbal spices. Fromthe most important challenges in relation to these spices is their pollution with various heavymetals. Thus, this study aims to characterize the amounts of heavy metals in collected spicesfrom Hamedan city of Iran during 2015-2016.Materials & Methods: 180 samples of commercially accessible vegetal spices were collectedfrom local stores all over the Hamedan city. The samples were weighted and dried in anelectrical oven at 105 ±1 °C for 24 h. Then, samples were grounded to powder by a grinder.Afterwards, the samples were digested by adding 4 ml and 1 ml of concentrated nitric acid andhydrogen peroxide, respectively. After filtration of samples, flamed atomic absorption used fordetection of Zinc, Copper, Iron, Nickel, Manganese, Cadmium and Lead concentrations. For thestatistical analysis of the results, SPSS version 21 was used. For examining data normality,Kolmogorov-Smirnov test; to compare the mean concentration of elements between spicesamples from Tukey test and in order to investigate the correlation between the averageconcentrations of the heavy metals in the samples, Pearson correlation test were used.Comparing mean concentration of elements with standard values was conducted, using onesamplet-test.Results: The mean concentrations of Cadmium as a toxic trace element were low in all samplesand no risk threatens consumers. But, lead content in dried mint (6.04±0.85mg/kg) was highcompared to the standard values. This trend was followed by cinnamon (4.88±1.32), turmeric(2.05±0.63), black pepper (1.51±0.63), sumac (1.17±1.08) and red pepper (0.72±0.85).Conclusion: Lead in dried mint exceeded the standard value whose reason can be the increase ofpopulation, mining, industrialization, transportation and usage of chemical fertilizers, leading tothe spread of environmental pollution. Thus, more serious health cares and regular periodicsupervisions on food spices regarding pollution with this element seem necessary.