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Black tea is a popular and widely consumed beverage in Iran. Due to the possibility of transferring heavy metals and mycotoxins to the food chain, its potential hazards should be considered. In this study, forty samples of black tea imported to Bushehr port were collected. The physicochemical and microbial properties and their contamination with heavy metals including copper, lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium, as well as Aflatoxin B1 were evaluated. Moreover, to evaluate the health effects of exposure to heavy metals, both Hazard Index (HI) and Hazard Quotient (HQ) values were calculated. The concentration of lead, cadmium, arsenic and copper were: 0.63, 0.061, 0.01, 29.93 mg kg-1 in Sri Lankan, 0.65, 0.063, 0.11, 21.3 mg kg-1 in Indian, 0.61, 0.055, 0.085, 14.82 mg kg-1 in Kenyan and 1.71, 0.06, 0.1, 37.87 mg kg-1 in Vietnamese tea samples, respectively. No Hg contamination was observed. Aflatoxin B1 was only detected in Kenyan and Vietnamese samples (24.33 and 42.66 ng g-1, respectively). The calculation of HQ value for all heavy metals and HI value for all brands, which all were below one, showed that there is no non-carcinogenic adverse health effect through consuming these black teas for the adult consumers. |
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