Browsing by Author "Habeeb M.L, Sawyerr H.O and Opasola O.A"

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    Assessment of selected heavy metals in twenty standard hotels in Kaduna Metropolis, Kaduna State, Nigeria
    (37.Innovative Journal of Medical Sciences, 2022-03-02) Habeeb M.L, Sawyerr H.O and Opasola O.A
    The rise in contamination of raw foods by heavy metals has become an unavoidable problem nowadays. The episodes of accumulation of heavy metals in the biotic environment result from rapid increase in industrial activities, advancement in agricultural methods, or the activities of humans in the urban settings. These activities have prompted metal distribution in the environment and, subsequently, resulting to impairment in health of the populace by the ingestion of food contaminated by harmful metals components. The aim of this study was to assess the heavy metals concentrations and characterize the heavy metals found in raw food samples collected from selected standard hotels in Kaduna State and compare with the Food Agriculture and Organization (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines so as to assess the potential health hazard. Twenty samples of rice and nine samples beans were obtained from 20 hotels within three-, four-, and five-star ratings with their purchase sources coded from hotel 1 to 20 for confidentiality. The powdered samples were digested with nitric acid. Extract from the digest was analyzed for Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb), and Cadmium (Cd) using Buck Scientific AAS. The results of this research indicated levels of HMs were within safe limit, when compared with FAO/WHO standard and concentrations are significantly low, as the heavy metals are the same across the samples at P-value set at 0.05. The results of this study indicated presence of the heavy metals (Copper, Cadmium, and Lead) in the samples but they were at safe levels when compared with the WHO standard. Despite these, one should not neglect the fact that the two metals (Cd and Pb) accumulate in the body over time because of consumption frequency of beans and rice. Bioaccumulation rate can pose serious health risk to consumers. Implementation of hazard analysis critical control point for routine assessment of heavy metals in food products to help eliminate of not exceed global standard for food safety should be practice.