Abstract:
Abstract
Introduction: Fruit juice is one of the most popular non-alcoholic beverages on the planet.
Nearly 50% of fruit juice product is consumed by children, world-wide with highest intake in
Australasia. Children in developing countries consume an average of 0.16 servings/day of fruit
juice. Long-term ingestion of high concentration of toxic metals through fruits juice can lead to
chronic accumulation and known to have a carcinogen risk in human. Toxic metal in fruit juices
may be from ingredients, chemical preservatives, agricultural practices as well as packaging materials. The implications of toxic metals with regards to children's health have been noted to be
more severe than adults and limited information is available on the chemical quality of fruit juice
products in Ethiopia. To assess potential health risk, more study in the areas of chemical quality is
required. The study will serve as a baseline information for constructing health policies for quality
control measures.
Objective; The aim of this study was to assess the concentration of toxic metals and health risk
in commercially available packed fruit juice products for children in Gondar City Northwest Ethiopia, 2022.
Methods: A laboratory-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February 30 to July 30
2022 in Gondar City. Purposive sampling techniques were used to select 8 brands of fruit juice.
80 samples were collected from the market based on the availability. Aseptically collected samples
were analysed in chemistry laboratory room for toxic metal analysis (Cd, Pb, Ni and Cr). Digestion
of the samples was carried out using wet digestion. Analysis of toxic metals was carried out using
AAS. Average daily intake of children were estimated using checklist and data were collected
from 5 market cites in the city from 422 respondents. The collected data from field survey and
laboratory were entered to Microsoft Excel and SPSS Version 25 and Non- parametric Kruskal
Wallis and post-hoc pairwise comparison test was used to assess significant variation b/n metals
of fruit juice brands. Non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk of toxic metals were estimated using
Target hazard quotient and cancer risk.
Results: 80 packed fruit juice samples were examined which contain varying concentration of
toxic metals. Concentration of Cd, Cr, Pb and Ni were ranged from 0.01-0.1, 0.0003-0.008, 0.01-
0.04 and 0.0025-0.08 mg/l respectively. The rank of THQ and CR were Cd>Cr>Pb>Ni and Cd
and Cd>Ni>Cr>Pb respectively.
Conclusion; High concentration of Cd, Pb and Ni were present in Strawberry and pineapple nectar
whereas mango juice were in low level. Fruit juices stored in canned cartoon, glass were characterised by an elevated level of Cd, Pb and Ni as compared with products with tetra pack and plastic.
THQ>1 in Cd indicates that metals may pose potential health risk for children.
Key words; Toxic metal, health risk assessment, fruit juice
