engleski

Mercury content in olive oil

Mercury is a toxic heavy metal even at very low concentrations and it has no known nutritional function in humans. Little is known about mercury contamination in olive oil. On the other side, this metal is recognized as a problem element analytically. For all the reasons mentioned above, the aim of this work was to evaluate total mercury content in 34 samples of Croatian olive oil and to compare to maximum allowed value. The mercury content in the investigated olive oil samples was analyzed by using advanced mercury analyzer AMA-254 with HS cuvette (Leco, Czech Republic) under the following conditions: wavelength 253.6 nm, drying time 60 s, decomposition time 150 s, cuvette clear time 45 s and typical sample mass 100 mg. LOD and LOQ values was found to be 18.2 and 30.3 ng/kg, respectively. The presence of mercury, a non-essential heavy metal, was detected in all samples and the values of the total mercury content in olive oils were in the range of 45.4 - 210.7 ng/kg ; mean value 100.2 ng/kg (RSD: 0.9 - 9.9%). It is noteworthy that all analysed olive oil samples had the total mercury content below the internationally established maximum allowed value (100 µg/kg).

mercury, olive oil, metal contamination, regulatory challenge

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