Quantitative analysis of mercury in some food colors

Abstract

Mercury is one of the very well-known heavy metals. Mercury toxicity occurs due to the long-term exposure of mercury compounds. The exposure may lead to accumulation of precipitated mercury in the body, which may result in fatal condition over the time. The research finding shows that mercury contamination in food colors can occur due to the environmental pollution. Last but not the least mercury also can be added purposely because of their antimicrobial properties. Therefore, the aim of this study is to find out the presence of mercury both in the local and branded food colors used in Dhaka city, Bangladesh. According to EU specification the maximum permissible limit of mercury is 1 μg/g. Seven food color samples were collected from the retail market of Dhaka. S01 (green), S02 (yellow), S03 (chocolate), S04 (red) were local solid powders and SS01 (green), SS02 (yellow), SS03 (red) were branded liquids. The in-vitro test, called Direct Cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometric method is used to quantify the presence of mercury. The final result shows that all these seven color samples contain mercury under the permissible limit. Consequently, it shows that the consumption of these colors might harmful in term of mercury toxicity due to the long-term use of them.