Determination of heavy metal (Cr, Cd, Pb and Ni) in instant noodles by using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS)

Lately, scientists around the world are concern about the amount of heavy metal in the product of instant noodle because its will become toxic when the concentration is exceed the regulation level. This heavy metal contaminated may occur during manufacturing process, environment, background sources and packaging. The long term consuming of food that may contain heavy metal such as Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Nickel (Ni), and Lead (Pd) would disrupted in tumour suppressor gene expression and damage repair process because it can affect cellular organelles such as cell membrane lysosome, mitochondrion, and others. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine of heavy metal in instant noodles that are usually consumed by Malaysian people. The heavy metal were analysed by using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) in four different types of instant noodle samples. The result shows that mean concentrations of heavy metals in four popular instant noodle brand that usually consumed by Malaysian people were Cr (0.242mg/L) > Ni (0.183 mg/L) > Cd (0.038) > Pb (not detected (ND)). Cr gave the highest mean concentration (mg/L) that detected in Sample S (0.457 ± 0.0201) which exceeded the WHO standard, followed by Sample R (0.191 ± 0.0187), Sample M (0.178 ± 0.0349) and Sample I (0.145 ± 0.0359). The concentration of Cd also exceeded the WHO standard whereby Sample S (0.076 ± 0.0240) gave the higher concentration of Cd, while the mean concentrations of Ni in the sample were below the WHO standard that obtained in the range of 0.154 ± 0.0112 to 0.207 ± 0.0069. However, the mean concentration (mg/L) of Pb was not detectable in all samples. As a conclusion, Cr and Cd was exceeded the permission limit that was set by WHO in all the instant noodle product in Malaysia’s market. Hence, the concentration of heavy metal in all the instant noodle product must be monitored comprehensively with the respect of human health and potentially safe to consume.