ISSN 2375-1266
African Journal of Environmental and Waste Management ISSN 2375-1266 Vol. 11 (7), pp. 001-006, July, 2024. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Evaluation of Cyanide Contamination in Various Food Products and Its Possible Effects on Vitamin B Complex Concentrations
1Olaseinde Adewale Olasoji, 2Omoboyowa Damilola Alex, 3Okoronkwo C.O and 4Adeyomoye Olorunsola Israel
1,3Department of Biochemistry, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo, Nigeria
2Department of Biochemistry, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria
4Department of Physiology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
Accepted 12 May, 2024
Abstract
Food crops namely sorghum, soybean, palm kernel, melon and groundnut were randomly selected from market in Oyo and Ogun states. The samples were finely ground, labeled (AW, AR, B, C, D and E) and analyzed spectrophotometrically for cyanide (bound, free and total), thiocyanide and vitamin B-complex concentrations. From the results, it was observed that cyanide was only present in sorghum and palm kernel samples. Absence of cyanide was observed in soybean, melon and groundnut. Red sorghum was observed to have significant (p<0.05) high total cyanide concentration compared with white sorghum from both Oyo and Ogun state markets. Both the red and white sorghum species from Ogun state contained significant (p<0.05) high concentration of total cyanide and thiocyanide respectively compared to those samples purchased from Oyo state. This seems to be influenced by climatic or soil factors. It was noted that palm kernel from both states had lower concentrations of thiocyanide and total cyanide in comparison to sorghum. There was no significant difference (p > 0.05) between the concentrations of the vitamin B-complex in sorghum as compared to that of non-cyanide containing samples. This implies that the presence of cyanide might have no observable effect on vitamin B-complex synthesis in the plant samples.
Keywords: Cyanide, Thiocyanide, Vitamin B, Spectrophotometric, Food crops.