Concentration levels of essential and non-essential elements in selected Ethiopian wines

The concentrations of thirteen metals (K, Na, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, Mn, Pb, Co, Ni, Cd, Cu and Cr) were determined in four brands of Ethiopian wines by flame atomic absorption spectrometer (FAAS) after digesting the wine samples with HNO3- H2O2 mixture. Among the major metals potassium (694–767 mg/L) was found to be at the highest level, followed by magnesium (58.1–79.2 mg/L), calcium (28.4–37.1mg/L) and sodium (24.0–24.4 mg/L). From the minor metals iron, zinc and manganese were in the ranges of 1.42–3.16, 1.82–2.70, and 1.04–1.88 mg/L, respectively, followed by copper (0.5–1.5 mg/L), nickel (0.18–0.20 mg/L), cobalt (less than 0.065–0.091 mg/L) and chromium (less than 0.075–0.192 mg/L). The toxic metal lead was in the range of 0.14–0.31 mg/L while cadmium was below detection limit of the analytical procedure used in this study (less than 0.01 mg/L). The levels of metals in the Ethiopian wines were found to be comparable with wines of some other countries.KEY WORDS: Essential element, Non-essential element, Acid digestion, Flame atomic absorption Spectrometry (FAAS), Ethiopia, Wine Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2011, 25(2), 169-180.