Impact of Automobile Exhaust on Levels of Lead in a Commercial Food From Bus Terminals

The impact of automobile exhaust on the levels of lead in commercially produced and sold white bread at bus terminals in Lagos, Nigeria were assessed. Total lead concentrations by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry were carried out. The mean concentration of lead in foods across the sites (T1-T10) ranged from 0.01 0.025 µgg-1; 0.01 0.03 µgg-1; 0.015 0.035 µgg-1 and 0.005 0.025 µgg-1 for the first, second, third and fourth periods of sampling respectively. The overall mean concentration of the metal varied between 0.015 0.026 µgg-1 across the sampled sites. The analytical protocol was validated through the quality assurance experiment with quantitative recovery of 92.5% and C.V of 5%, which was considered applicable for routine analyses of food samples. The metal was detected in over 80% of the 160 samples that were collected and analyzed. Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management Vol. 8 (1) 2004: 23 - 27