Abstract

Background: Currently, aluminum (Al) cookware is frequently utilized as a container for food preparation all over the world. The migration of elements from Al cookware can pose a serious potential health hazard. However, there is a lack of information about the leaching of multi-elements from Al cookware and their behaviours. A new investigation for leaching of multi-elements from Al cookware during conventional cooking environments was depicted in the current study.

Methods: Ten different Al cookware made by different manufacturers were used for simulating cooking media. Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) as a fast, simple and reliable technique was used to investigate the leaching of multi-elements (34 elements) from Al cookware. Limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ) ranged between 0.001- 0.030 and 0.004-0.100 μg/L, respectively.

Results: This study revealed that numerous elements, including Al, arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), lead (Pb), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), magnesium (Mg), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn) and vanadium (V) were released from Al cookware during conventional cooking conditions. Repeatability, reproducibility and recovery values ranged between 0.94 – 4.59% RSD, 1.76-4.71% RSD, and 96- 109%, respectively. The leaching amounts and behaviours of elements were closely related to the solution pH and cooking time. At acidic conditions, the concentrations of Al, Pb and Mn surpass WHO limits. After a 15-minute cooking duration, Al concentrations ranged from 56.8 to 8048 μg/L, which subsequently increased to 1097 – 201423 μg/L after 60 min. Several behaviours of Al leaching, including an extreme release, a linear release and a low release, were observed among samples. This could be probably due to the formation of a passivation layer of Al2O3 which prevents the oxidation of Al. Moreover, Pb and Mn were detected at 14.1–25.8 and 262.5 μg/L after 30 min, respectively. At neutral media, Al, Cu, As, V, Mg and Zn were quantified among all studied pots. Further interesting findings are to observe the behaviour leaching of Zn at concentrations of 55-120 μg/L, including a strong release within 30 min in some samples, while others showed a linear dissolution within 60 min of the cooking process.

Conclusion: The study provided for the first time a more detailed study of the processes involved in the release of multi-elements during cooking inside Al cookware compared to the other hitherto published studies, which is an important insight in the field of food safety and other areas. The cumulative release of multi-elements from Al cookware could emphasize the importance of assessing the quality of such cookware, urging a closer examination of its composition and possibly advocating for potential alterations in the future.

Keywords: Aluminium cookware, multi-elements, ICP-MS, migration, food safety.