Determining the Amount of Heavy Metals in Salt Samples of Urmia Lake

Abstract

Heavy metals are one of the environmental pollutants that human exposure to them can cause chronic daises. In most people, food is the main source of heavy metals, therefore the evaluation of their residues in various food samples and food additives like salt is of great importance. In this study, thirty salt samples were obtained from thirty different locations of Lake Urmia and analyzed with inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectroscopy to assess their heavy metals contamination. The analytes were extracted with two chelating agents. The maximum concentrations of Cd, Cr, Hg, Ni, and Pb in the evaluated salt sample were 0.040, 0.541, 0.261, 0.464, and 0.254 μg g–1, respectively. Comparison of the results with the Codex maximum residue limits of heavy metals in the edible salt indicated that only in two cases the concentrations of studied metals exceeded the recommend levels (in one sample the concentration of Cr and in another sample the concentration of Hg) and in the other samples their concentrations were below the maximum levels set by Codex. Considering the outcomes and the impacts of heavy metals presence on the human health, continuous monitoring of their levels in the salt samples of Lake Urmia is highly recommended.