investigation of the level of contaminants in traditionally grape syrup

traditional production of grape syrup in iran inaugurated by addition of natural clay in order to decrease the acidity for subsequent heating. the presence of some mineral residues and sand in the final product which is mainly due to clay impurity might cause and adverse effect. in this study, eleven samples of traditionally produced grape syrup were collected randomly from different regions of khorasan province and the level of standard specified contaminants was determined. heavy metals such as cd, ni and co were more than maximum allowable limit in almost all samples. these contaminants could be originated from either the vineyard soil or the added clay as well as inadequacy of final filtration. considerable amount of sand was also determined in some samples which revealed the inappropriate pre-processing washing the grapes or excessive clay addition. hence, in order to protect the consumers and meet the standard levels of aforementioned contaminants, it is necessary to change the method of production.