Journal: Environmental Contaminants Reviews (ECR)
Author: Bassey S. Okori, Nwuyi O. Sam-Uket

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Doi:10.26480/ecr.01.2024.37.42

ABSTRACT

The most produced and used vegetable oil in the world is thought to be crude palm oil (CPO). Immediately following milling, the processed CPO (n = 18) was collected each month from the oil palm plantations owned by JP, Calaro, and Mrs. P. (control) over a six-month period. The Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES) was used to analyze the samples for heavy metals (Mn, Zn, Co, Pb, Ni, Cr, Cd, and As). In the CPO from all the plantations, the concentration of heavy metals varied, and it rose noticeably in the CPO from the pesticide-cultivated plantations (JP and Calaro oil palm plantations). The oil palm plantation Calaro has the highest concentration of all the heavy metals that have been studied. The mean heavy metal concentrations in JP oil were 0.29 mg/kg (Co), 0.41 mg/kg (Pb), 3.22 mg/kg (Ni), 0.33 mg/kg (Cr), 0.27 mg/kg (Cd), 0.31 mg/kg (As), 5.67 mg/kg (Zn), and 2.18 mg/kg (Mn), whereas those in CPO from Calaro were 0.45 mg/kg (Co), 0.62 mg/kg (Pb), 4.27 mg/kg (Ni), 0.45 mg/kg (Cr), 0.39 mg/kg (Cd), 0.44 mg/kg (As), 8.15 mg/kg (Zn), and 2.99 mg/kg (Mn). CPO from Calaro and JP oil palm plantations had mean concentrations of Co, Pb, Ni, Cr, Cd, As, and Mn that were higher than the WHO’s acceptable limits for food, rendering it unfit for human consumption. According to its THQ (target hazard quotient) value and EDI (estimated daily intake), zinc is the main cause of non-carcinogenic contamination in Calaro and JP oil palm plantations. All of the heavy metals’ EDI values in CPO from the plantations under investigation were less than their RfD (reference oral dosage) values. Safety was indicated by the THQ, HRI, and EDI values of every heavy metal in CPO from every plantation under investigation. When CPO from Calaro and JP oil palm plantations was consumed, lead was the main cause of carcinogenic contamination. Pb and Ni carcinogenic risk values in CPO from Calaro oil palm and JP oil palm plantations were greater than 10-4, suggesting that over the course of a 60-year lifetime, consumers may develop cancer as a result of Pb and Ni poisoning.

KEYWORDS
Heavy metal, Contamination, Crude palm oil,