Evaluación de cadmio y plomo en testa y cotiledón de cacao de fincas productoras ubicadas en la adelina, Cantón Balao

Abstract

The objective of this research is to evaluate the concentration of cadmium and lead in the testa and cotyledon of organic cocoa beans, using the Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) method, to determine in which part of the kernel there is a greater accumulation of these metals. Considering that the cocoa plant, being a perennial plant, tends to accumulate high concentrations of heavy metals. The cocoa samples were collected from five cocoa farms located in the La Adelina sector in the canton of Balao; This is a place where small-scale mining activities have been carried out and where waste is generated and dumped in the surrounding rivers, which in turn are used for irrigation of the plantations themselves, which could be influenced by contamination, Therefore, the aim is to verify whether or not there are high concentrations of cadmium and lead in the cocoa beans analyzed, which were evaluated through physicochemical parameters such as moisture, pH, acidity and ash, where analyses were performed in triplicate both in the testa and in the cotyledon, obtaining an average for each sample submitted. Cadmium and lead analyses in testa and cotyledon were provided by certified laboratories that were previously sent for analysis using the EEA method in a graphite furnace, with the purpose of obtaining reliable results, since a food product is being studied, so for their interpretation a statistical analysis of significance was performed, and the representation of box and whiskers diagram to evaluate the distribution and median of the data obtained using the software IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0. Finally, the results were compared to determine whether these values comply with the maximum permissible limits stipulated by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.