Potentiometric stripping analysis of selected heavy metals in biological materials

Different biological materials such as edible oils, refined and unrefined cane and beet sugar and tea (black and green) leaves were assayed for the heavy metals cadmium, copper, lead and zinc. The results revealed significant differences in heavy metal contents within each class of the biological materials (P < 0.05). Cadmium was not detectable in sugar samples. Among the oils, highest amounts of copper (0.263 microgram/g) and lead (0.154 microgram/g) were in corn oil and zinc in olive oil (3.01 micrograms/g) whereas cadmium exhibited a narrow range (0.023-0.033 microgram/g). The samples of beet-sugar generally contained higher levels of the heavy metals than cane-sugar. Black and green tea leaves contained 0.411-0.908 microgram Cd/g, 6.500-9.220 micrograms Cu/g, 2.200-5.238 micrograms Pb/g, and 14.500-25.180 micrograms Zn/g.