Abstract
In recent years, the frequent occurrence of food scandals has caused public to pay more attention on food safety. Food is the main intake route of trace elements to humans. Herein, we establish a simple, fast, and reliable method to analyze multiple trace elements in edible vegetable oils and rice wines by microwave digestion followed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) determination. After establishing trace element fingerprint, we assess the risk contribution of heavy metals in these samples to the consumers. To validate the proposed method, a certified reference material (CRM) was analyzed. The analyst’s recovery of each element was in the range of 80-120 %. A total of 58 edible vegetable oil samples and 29 rice wine samples were collected. A systematic survey of Zn, Cu, Al, As, Pb, Hg and Cd concentrations in these samples were carried out. The trace element fingerprints were subjected to discrimination analysis, demonstrating that the vegetable used in oils and manufacturing origin of rice wines could be successfully differentiated. The results of health risk assessments showed that the estimated daily/weekly/monthly intake of Zn, Cu, Al, As, Pb, Hg and Cd from edible vegetable oils and rice wines contributed to the acceptable safety limit, implying the investigated edible vegetable oils and rice wines posing little risk to consumers.