Monitoring of the content of heavy metals in sunflower seeds and its processing products in Ukraine for 2018–2021

The article presents the results of research conducted at the State Research Institute of Laboratory Diagnostics and Veterinary-Sanitary Examination from 2018 to 2021 regarding the content of trace elements and toxic elements in sunflower seeds and their products of domestic production. During the studied period, 62 samples of sunflower seeds, 345 samples of sunflower meal, 289 samples of sunflower cake, and 68 samples of halva were analyzed. The preparation of samples was carried out by acid decomposition in nitric acid using a laboratory microwave system with closed-type autoclaves. The content of Lead, Cadmium, and Arsenic was determined by the method of atomic absorption spectrometry with electrothermal atomization and background correction with the Zeiman effect. The content of copper and zinc was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry with flame atomization with deuterium background correction. Mercury content – by the direct method of atomic absorption spectrometry. In all studied samples, the content of copper varied between 1.21–42.9 mg/kg, the content of zinc 17.7–75.40 mg/kg, the content of lead 0.011–1.121 mg/kg, the content of arsenic 0.0035–0.004 mg/kg, Mercury 0.005–0.051 mg/kg. The results of studies of sunflower seeds and halva for cadmium content were in the range of 0.052–0.234 mg/kg and 0.080–0.271 mg/kg. According to the obtained results, it was established that cadmium content exceeded the maximum permissible level value in five sunflower seeds and in eighteen halva samples, which is 2.7 % and 20.2 % of the total amount of the studied material. During the study of the content of inorganic pollutants Lead, Arsenic, Zinc, and Copper in sunflower seeds and halva, no violations of the maximum permissible levels were found. Regarding the analysis of meal and sunflower cake for the content of Cadmium, Lead, Arsenic, Copper, and Zinc, no violations of the MDR were detected. The contamination of seeds and halva with cadmium exceeded the legally permissible levels by 1.1 to 2.1 times. These results confirm literature data on the ability of sunflowers to accumulate cadmium, particularly in seeds. The analysis of the work demonstrates the need for more thorough and systematic control of sunflower raw materials both at the growing stage and in the process of harvesting, drying, and processing at various stages of feed and final product production.