Determination of metal traces in vegetable oils from Spain and Morocco by graphite chamber atomic absorption spectroscopy following microwave digestion

Determination of metal traces in vegetable oils from Spain and Morocco by graphite chamber atomic absorption spectroscopy following microwave digestion. A simple, rapid analytical method for determining traces of Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn and Pb in in various types of vegetable oils is proposed. Samples are digested in a microwave oven and then analyzed by atomic absorption spectroscopy with electrothermal atomization. The proposed method exhibits good linearity and sensitivity to the five metals, which it can determine with detection limits over the range 0.06-2.15 lg/kg. Its precision, as relative standard deviation, ranges from 2.6 to 4.2%. Its accuracy was assessed by using it to analyze a reference material consisting of Used Oil HU-1, which contains certified metal concentrations, and was found to be quite acceptable. The proposed method was applied to the determination of the five metals in virgin olive, olive, sunflower, maize and pomace olive oils from Spain and Morocco. Based on the results, the metal contents varied among oil types and, for olive oil, also with the country of origin; the oil samples from Morocco contained especially high levels of lead.