THE EFFECT OF SOME FOOD PROCESS ON REDUCEING IT`S HEAVY METAL CONTENTS

Abstract

Spices are source of many bioactive compounds that improve food taste as well as its influence on digestion and metabolism processes. It also contains some undesirable components to be harmful, e.g. pesticides, mycotoxins, heavy metals and polycyclic residues. Many spices have outstanding antimicrobial effect. The process of preparation and handling can make them as source of food poisoning. Because of more healthy diets that are low in fat and salt, people are turning to different spices to flavor their foods. This work therefore seeks to bridge that gap by providing information on the level of heavy metals of these most consumed seasonings. Information will further be provided on the sources of these seasonings and the extent to which they are contaminated with heavy metals. The effect of cultivation origin (importation area; i.e., American and /or Asian origins) was studied to determine the heavy metals content in addition to bacterial load of four imported spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, black pepper and allspice) available in Egyptian market. Samples of dry spices that imported from different countries; i.e., north America (USA and Mexico) and /or south America (Brazil) as well as Asia (Sri Lanka, India and China) were studied. The effect of two cooking processes (blanching and /or roasting) of on heavy metals content of resulted beef sausages during frozen storage at -18°C /3 months was also followed. Thus, it could be recommended that the content of heavy metals in imported spices should be estimated from any source or origin, because they are considered as a dangerous matter in case of its high content of harmful heavy metals.