Heavy metal content of some cereals, spices and pulses from middle Anatolia region of Turkey

The trace heavy metal contents of 19 cereals, pulses and spices, commercially available on the Turkish markets, from the middle Anatolia region have been determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. Microwave digestion procedure was employed for decomposing the cereal, pulse and spice samples. The ranges for manganese, nickel, copper and zinc were 71-1028 mu g/g, <5.0-58.8 mu g/g, <5.0-129.1 mu g/g, and 5.6-81.6 mu g/g, respectively. Results obtained are in agreement with previous literature data.