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. 2022 Oct 27:9:1962-1967.
doi: 10.1016/j.toxrep.2022.10.014. eCollection 2022.

Determination of heavy metals contamination in thyme products by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Elias Akoury  1 , Caline Baroud  2 , Sally El Kantar  1 , Hussein Hassan  3 , Layal Karam  4
Affiliations

Determination of heavy metals contamination in thyme products by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Elias Akoury et al. Toxicol Rep. .

Abstract

Thyme herbs constitute a major part of the Mediterranean diet and are gaining worldwide popularity. However, their chemical contamination with toxic metals may put consumers at a health risk. The objective of this study was to assess the incidence of Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd), Lead (Pb) and Mercury (Hg) in thyme-containing products. Composite samples were collected twice at six-month interval. Samples were digested by microwave digestion oven and analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). 11%, 22%, and 86% of samples had unacceptable levels of As, Hg and Pb respectively according to the international standards set by Codex Alimentarius and all the samples had acceptable limits of Cd. This study highlighted the importance of monitoring and enforcing regulatory actions related to the contamination of the food chain with heavy metals.

Keywords: Arsenic; Cadmium; Chemical contamination; Herbs and spices; Lead; Mercury; Toxic metals.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Mean Levels of (A) As, (B) Cd, (C) Hg, and (D) Pb in food (in mg/kg fresh weight) as represented in the bar diagrams.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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