DETERMINATION OF METAL CONTENT IN TEA LEAVES GROWN IN YEN BAI AND TUYEN QUANG PROVINCE, VIET NAM
The metal contents of 19 tea leave samples, Camellia sinensis L., from Yen Bai and Tuyen Quang provinces were determined using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). Total 18 elements in tea leaves were determined including macroelement such as Al, Ca, K, Mg, Mn; trace element such as Na, Ba, Fe, Cu, Sn, Zn, Se, Ni, B and heavy metal (Pb, Hg, Cd and metalloid As). The results show that, K content was the highest among the macroelement, followed by Mg, Ca, Mn and Al. There was a wide variation of the trace metal content among the tea leaves coming from different province. The levels of heavy metal content in most of the samples were not detectable or below the acceptable level as required by Ministry of Health.