Determination of trace lead and cadmium in canned soft drinks in Syria

INTRODUCTION: Soft drinks are highly consumed in Syria due to their preferable taste, advertisement, and lack of awareness about their harmful effects on the human body. Heavy-metal contamination is one of the top problems associated with the soft drinks industry. In this study, the levels of heavy metals (lead [Pb] and cadmium [Cd]) in carbonated and noncarbonated canned soft drinks in the Syrian market were investigated. The leaching of Pb and Cd in canned drinks was also investigated under different storage conditions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Soft drink samples were collected from the Damascus market. The samples were prepared using microwave digestion. All samples were analyzed using the developed and validated atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) method. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: All studied samples at all stages of the study were free of Cd. The mean concentration of Pb ranged between 13.76 and 42.12 ppb. Our results showed that the levels of Cd and Pb were in the allowed limits according to Syrian Specification (1992/47) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) limits. There is no leaching of Pb and Cd in all studied samples under different storage conditions over 1 year of study. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that all samples are following good manufacturing procedure (GMP) and safe to be consumed by costumers.