Faculty of Nursing & Health Sciences, Department of Nursing & Health Sciences, Notre Dame University-Louaize, Zouk Mikael, Lebanon.
Department of Natural Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon.
PLoS One. 2024 Aug 23;19(8):e0307884. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0307884. eCollection 2024.
Spices and herbs are susceptible to various contaminants, including heavy metals. Our study aimed to quantify the levels of lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), cadmium (As), and cadmium (Cd) in 96 composite samples of 13 herbs and spices frequently consumed in Lebanon. Twenty percent (19/96) and 4% (4/96) of the samples exceeded the permissible levels of Pb and Cd, respectively and all the samples met the permissible levels of As and Hg according to Codex Alimentarius standards. For Pb and Cd, unpackaged samples had the highest levels of unacceptable samples of 31% (8/26) and 8% (2/26), respectively. The samples locally packaged in companies with and without Food Safety Management System (FSMS) had the same levels of unacceptable samples of 12% (3/26) and 4% (1/26) for Pb and Cd, respectively. Imported packaged samples had unacceptable levels of Pb (28% (5/18)) and were acceptable for the three other heavy metals.
香料和草药容易受到各种污染物的影响，包括重金属。我们的研究旨在定量分析黎巴嫩常用的 13 种草药和香料的 96 种复合样本中铅（Pb）、汞（Hg）、镉（As）和镉（Cd）的含量。20%（19/96）和 4%（4/96）的样本分别超过了 Pb 和 Cd 的允许水平，所有样本均符合 Codex Alimentarius 标准规定的 As 和 Hg 的允许水平。对于 Pb 和 Cd，未包装的样本的不可接受样本比例最高，分别为 31%（8/26）和 8%（2/26）。在有和没有食品安全管理体系（FSMS）的公司本地包装的样本中，Pb 和 Cd 的不可接受样本比例相同，分别为 12%（3/26）和 4%（1/26）。进口包装样本的 Pb 含量不可接受（28%（5/18）），而其他三种重金属则是可以接受的。
