Is The Paper Tea Bags Chemically Contaminated?

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Home Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University.

2 Department of Pesticide Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University.

3 Department of Home Economics, Faculty of Agriculture,Alexandria University.

Abstract

Aims: This study aimed to identify the risks of using three brands of the most Egyptian consumers' preferred black tea. Epichlorohydrin (ECH), its metabolite3-monochloropropane-1,2 dial (3-MCPD), and some , were analyzed in the infusions.
Methods: Tea infusion was prepared by adding 100 ml of  boiling deionized water  in fine bone china cups to one bag of the three studied brands, and steeped for 2, 6, and 10 minutes. The effect of adding table sugar (3 or 6 g per cup), as well as the effect of rinsing the bag prior to preparing the teadrink on ECH and 3-MCPD content were estimated. ECH and 3-MCPD were determined using HPGC, while the heavy metals were detected by ICP-MS. The data were statistically analyzed.
Results: The results revealed that, the levels of ECH in all of the teabag infusions of tested brands after the three studied steeping times ranged between 1.68 to 11.40 µg/L. Adding sugar decreased the concentration of ECH in the infusions by 13-20%. Because ECH is easily dissolved in water at room temperature, rinsing the teabag perior preparing the drink removed more than 93% of its ECH content, also empting the tea particles from the bag significantly reduced the ECH concentration in the infusion. Assuming an adult person consumes one litter of tea drink a day, therefore its ECH intake is in the safe levels according to the WHO (2017) when the steeping time 2 min for all studied brands. We recommended to rinse the tea bags or empting the tea particles from the bag before preparing the infusions.
The 3-MCPD was not detected in tea infusions of brand A, while of brand C contained the highest levels of 3-MCPD and these levels increased by increasing steeping time. Fortunately, the concentrations of toxic heavy metals Al, Pb, and Cd were too low in infused samples compared to established guidelines of drinking water (WHO, 2007).
 

Keywords

Main Subjects

Alexandria Science Exchange Journal
Volume 43, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
SPECIAL ISSUE Sixth Scientific Conference - Second International for Home Economics
March 2022
Pages 1-8

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics