Lead, cadmium and cobalt (Pb, Cd, and Co) leaching of glass-clay containers by pH effect of food

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 12; no. 4; pp. 2336 - 2350
• Main Authors: Valadez-Vega, Carmen, Zúñiga-Pérez, Clara, Quintanar-Gómez, Samuel, Morales-González, José A, Madrigal-Santillán, Eduardo, Villagómez-Ibarra, José Roberto, Sumaya-Martínez, María Teresa, García-Paredes, Juan Diego
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-04-2011; Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)
• Subjects: Aluminum Silicates - chemistry; Arsenic; Cadmium; Cadmium - analysis; Chromatography, Gas; Clay; Cobalt; Cobalt - analysis; Electronic mail systems; Enamel; Food Analysis; Food contamination & poisoning; Glass - chemistry; glass clay; Heavy metals; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; leaching; Lead - analysis; Manufacturing; Product Packaging - instrumentation; Toxicity; Mexico; heavy metals; glass clay; leaching
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms12042336

Recent studies have shown that handcrafted glass-clay containers are a health risk because they can be contaminated by heavy metals, which can be transferred to food, thus reaching the human body to potentially cause illness. Therefore, in the present work, we evaluate the leaching of lead, cadmium, and cobalt from glass-clay containers into two types of food: tomato sauce (salsa), and chickpea puree. The containers were obtained from four regions in the Mexican state of Hidalgo. Repetitive extractions from the containers were carried out to quantify the leaching of the heavy metals into the salsa, the chickpea puree, and acetic acid using the technique proposed by the USFDA. The results show that greater use of the containers leads to more leaching of heavy metals into both types of food and into the acetic acid, with the greatest metal extraction recorded for the Ixmiquilpan vessels. These results indicate that the metals present in the glass-clay containers leach into the food and that increased reuse increases the risk to the people who use them in food preparation.