THE PRESENCE OF HEAVY METALS IN DOMESTIC AND IMPORTED FOODSTUFFS IN THE PCINJA DISTRICT

This paper emphasizes not only the importance of microbiological food safety and quality of foodstuffs, but also the importance of maintaining low levels of harmful chemicals in food (heavy metals, pesticides, antibiotics, mycotoxins, etc). The paper also presents the most common routes of entry of heavy metals into food and heavy metal intoxication in the human body that occurs if their level is higher than the level specified in the Regulations. Testing of food products for chemical pollutants was carried out in the institutions authorized by the Ministry . This paper describes the preparation of foodstuff samples, the assessment of the results, and the 2011and 2012 annual reports on foodstuff samples submitted for testing that were carried out in the Institute of Public Health in Vranje.