Determination of amount of heavy metal in the fruit dates in the local market of Ahwaz city

Date have a significant contribution in the food basket of humans in many countries of the world, including Iran and it’s one of the most valuable foods that make up most of it sugar. Water, cellulose, pectin, ash and minerals are other ingredients of the date composition. So dates are one of the most important sources of mineral salts in a balanced diet. For this reason, the presence of toxic pollutants in dates causes many diseases in humans. Therefore, monitoring the quality and health of this natural product is essential. For this purpose, in 2016, a study was conducted to investigate the amount of heavy metals (lead, cadmium, copper and zinc) in consumer dates in Ahwaz. This experiment was carried out 3 replications and in the form of the completely randomized design (CRD). Statistical analyses were performed using the MSTST-C statistical package and means were compared with Duncan test at 5 percent level. Experiments related to the estimation of the amount of the metals were carried out using atomic absorption of furnace to detect heavy metals (Cadmium, lead) and atomic absorption of flame for the detection of heavy metals (Zinc and Copper). The results of this study showed that the average of total concentration of Cd, Pb, Cu, and Zn in date samples were equal to 0.713±1.96 ,3.53± 2.74, 0.136± 0.072 and 4.433±0.324. The results of analysis of variance indicated that there was a significant difference between the samples in terms of heavy metals (lead, Cadmium, Zinc and Copper) at 1% level. The results showed that the Dairy date had the highest amount of lead (8 µg. g-1) and Cadmium (33.6 µg. g-1), Zahedi date had the highest copper (0.31 µg. g-1) and Gentar date had the highest Zinc content (29.1 µg. g-1), indicating a low level of these heavy metals in comparison with the date standard, which indicated a high degree of confidence in the determination of their health and safety for consumption.