Nineteen different varieties of local brand chocolates, soft
candies and hard candies were procured from Tiruchirappalli
district, Tamil Nadu. These samples were analyzed for two
heavy metals nickel and arsenic in Graphite Furnace – Atomic
Absorption Spectrophotometer (GF-AAS). Out of 19 local
brands of chocolates and candies, five were chocolate type,
six were soft candy type and eight were hard candy type.
From the analysis, it was found that nickel levels in the
samples ranged from 0.77 to 5.47 μg/g with an average of
2.75μg/g and arsenic levels ranged from 0.01 to 4.50 μg/g
with an average of 0.81 μg/g. Concentration of nickel was
high in chocolates and hard candies. Local brand soft candies
revealed the highest concentration of arsenic. Results showed
that there is significant heavy metal contamination in the
collected confectionary samples and on frequent consumption
it will cause serious health effects in children and adults as
well.