Heavy metal contamination in home‐produced beers and spirits

Analyses of more than 130 beers and spirits from different parts of Africa, India, Europe and Canada have been made for four heavy metal contaminants. A high proportion of home‐produced (usually illicit) alcoholic drinks were found to contain zinc (0.10–68.0 mg per litre), iron (0.2–245 mg per litre) and copper (0.10–58.0 mg per litre). Little lead was found. The metals were traced largely to the use of galvanized metal drums which have generally replaced traditional clay and wooden vessels in many countries. The health hazards of such heavy metal‐contaminated alcoholic drinks are discussed

Biology · Contamination · Heavy metals · Metallurgy · Zinc · Chemistry · Environmental Science · Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity · Heavy metals in environment · Heavy Metals in Plants · Materials Science · Ecology · Environmental Chemistry · Toxicology

• The health and nutritional status of primitive populations

  J R k Robson, G R Wadsworth•Ecology of Food and Nutrition•1977

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