Determination of Arsenic, Mercury, Lead, and Cadmium in Food - Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry

  Heavy metals in food are very harmful. Many heavy metals enter the human body through food and can seriously damage human health. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the sources and main hazards of heavy metals in food to help people raise awareness of prevention, food safety, and environmental protection, providing good protection for human health and the social environment. The effects of heavy metals on the human body are very slow and long-term. Once they enter the body, metabolism becomes very difficult. Taking lead as an example, Xinhua News points out that lead accumulates in organisms, and even low-level exposure to lead can affect the development of the cardiovascular system and central nervous system, especially in fetuses and infants. Consuming food with excessive lead can affect the development of the nervous system and intelligence and may endanger human health. For example, the sources and hazards of mercury in food. Mercury is chemically stable, its environmental self-purification is poor, pollution is widespread and persistent, and bioaccumulation is very evident. Under the food chain, organic mercury can be concentrated more than 100,000 times, seriously endangering human health. Since fish also have a strong ability to accumulate mercury, and national food standards set limit indicators for carnivorous fish. The main symptoms of mercury poisoning are fatigue, dizziness, insomnia, embryotoxicity, liver damage, and facial tremors, etc., while organic mercury poisoning usually manifests as neurological symptoms such as speech, perceptual, visual and auditory disorders, and motor dysfunction.