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ABSTRACT
About 10 heavy elements were determined in 90 samples of baby food collected from Spanish and Serbian market. The results indicated that iron, manganese and copper were most frequently detected. Tin was the predominant toxic element in both Spanish and Serbian samples, with occurrence frequencies of 12.5% and 10.0%, respectively. Element intake for Spanish and Serbian infants were estimated and compared with the recommended reference values, for the majority of elements being lower than one. However, iron and manganese intake through consumption of infant/follow-on formulas were assessed to be higher than the respective daily intakes. Particular attention should be paid to the exposure of infants who consume porridges made of vegetables and fish or chicken, because they may ingest certain elements, particularly arsenic and lead, at levels that exceed the reference toxicological values. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to classify and distinguish the different types of baby food.
Acknowledgements
The results presented here are obtained within project no. 172050 and a bilateral project within the programme of scientific and technological cooperation between the Republic of Serbia and the Kingdom of Spain, supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Serbia.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.