Study on the toxic contents in food prepared in selected skillets

It is hard to believe that cooking of food as well as its coming in contact with metal produces many toxic substances. Heavy metals are known to affect human health. Laboratory experiments were conducted to study the increase in toxic contents in the selected recipes prepared in the selected skillets. Cooked samples were dried by keeping measured amount of cooked food in hot air oven for 48 hours at 70°C. After wet digestion of the dried samples Double beam atomic absorption spectrophotometer was used to find the toxic contents. Maximum aluminium contents were detected in the suji halwa cooked in non-stick skillet (122.29 mg) and maximum chromium contents (0.59 mg) were detected in suji halwa prepared in copper skillets. Maximum chromium contents (832 μg) in potato vegetable was detected in vegetable prepared in aluminium skillet, lead contents (0.34 mg) in tough-coat skillet and cadmium content in enameled and tough-coat skillets. Similarly, it was found that maximum chromium (366.5 μg) in potato chips was in the chips fried in aluminium skillet and minimum (201 μg) in stainless steel with copper base skillet. Maximum lead content (1.75 μg) in fried potato chips was found in chips fried in brass and minimum in tough-coat skillets. Cadmium was found maximum (70 μg) in stainless steel with copper base and maximum nickel contents were found in chips fried in enameled skillets and minimum in tough-coat skillet.