DETERMINATION OF HEAVY METALS CONTENT FROM CITRUS FRUIT PEELS

This study aims to determine the concentrations of heavy metals and other metals of safety concern in citrus fruit peel extracts. Different types of citrus fruits (i.e., lemon, mandarin, orange, grapefruit, and lime) were collected randomly from markets, during the spring of the year 2024. The inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry technique was used to determine the concentrations of Al, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Sr, Cd, and Pb in citrus peel extracts. The obtained data have not exceeded the maximum allowed limits provided by European legislation. The statistical analysis results show that Cu and Zn were correlated positively. Likewise, a strong positive correlation (>0.500) can be observed between Al and Sr, Cr and Ni, Cr and Zn, Cr and Pb, Mn and Zn, Ni and Cd, Ni and Pb, Cd, and Pb. To check if the sample data are adequate, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test was used. The principal component analysis contains a maximum of three components responsible for 74.872% of the total variation, while cluster analysis revealed the approximate HMs content of the 17 analyzed samples.