Assessment of Arsenic, Vanadium, Mercury, and Cadmium  in Food and Drug Packaging

Food and drug packaging materials are an integral part of our everyday life.  Noxious elements can inadvertently be included in packaging materials in various stages of their production. Adulterants, adhesives, colorants and heavy metal interference are the common sources of contamination in food packaging materials. Heavy metal toxicity has far-reaching ill effects on living organisms. The present study aimed at qualitatively and quantitatively analysing heavy metal content of various materials that are used for food and drug packaging in India.

The qualitative detection was done by rapid assay and heavy metals were quantified with the help of inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). A total of thirteen types of food and drug packaging materials were procured from local market and analysed for four heavy metals viz. arsenic (As), vanadium (V), mercury (Hg) and cadmium (Cd). The concentration of each heavy metal in the samples was compared with the permissible values published by the European Council.

Heavy metals were qualitatively detected in ten out of thirteen samples. Among the ten samples mercury and arsenic were detected the most followed by cadmium and vanadium. Quantitative estimation by ICP-OES showed presence of vanadium and cadmium in ten samples and arsenic and mercury in all the thirteen samples above the permissible range.

The notable elevation in mercury concentration, followed by cadmium, arsenic and vanadium registering the least, presents a potential health hazard to consumers and compromises the food quality.