Environmental Exposure Assessment of Cadmium, Lead, Copper and Zinc in Different Palestinian Canned Food

Many chemical elements that present in the human diet are essential for human life at low concentrations but can be toxic at high concentrations and at chronic exposure. The aim of this study was to determine the levels of heavy metals in some canned food that are sold in the Palestinian market and compare them with the recommended international levels. The contents of investigated metals in canned food in this study were found to be in the range of (0.089-1.17 mg/L) for Pb, (0.019-0.32 mg/L) for Cd, (2.05-10.6 mg/L) for Zn and (0.79-3.97 mg/L) for Cu. Cadmium and Copper results were higher than international permissible levels. Whereas Lead and Zinc levels were within the permissible levels. The results necessitate continuous monitoring of Cd and Cu levels and controlling of canning process in canned food to obtain food safety. This study demonstrates that Cd and Cu levels were higher than international permissible levels and this is an important alarm in public health. We recommend further future studies that asses the levels of the studied elements in human body and selecting samples from hair ,nails and blood.