Cuantificación de cadmio en muestras de almendras Theobroma cacao venezolano

Since the European Union regulations on the maximum permissible content of heavy metals came into force in 2019, there has been a growing interest in quantification these metals in Venezuelan cocoa. In the present study, Cd was quantified in nine samples of cocoa beans from different areas of the national territory, analyzing the shell and nib separately. Atomic absorption spectroscopy with flame atomization using a continuous source spectrophotometer in fast sequential mode was utilized. A sample digestion process was optimized through the implementation of a factorial design. Measurements were evaluated by calculating the percentage recovery for inter-day and intra-day precision determination. The cadmium concentration in the samples ranged from 1.4 to 7.2 mg kg⁻¹, exceeding the European Union's established limit of 0.6 mg kg⁻¹.