Attached
Chilie (Capsicum annuum L.) powder is the dried, pulverized fruit o f chilies and used as a spice to add pungency
flavour to the dish. This study was conducted to investigate the trace metal content in chillie powder samples
commonly available in the Sri Lankan market. Five brands o f chillie powder samples named A, B, C, D and E, and
an unbranded sample were selected for this study. Three batches from each brand and three samples from each batch
were purchased. An ungrounded whole dry chillie sample was selected as the control. The trace metal content was
determined using AAS and XRF spectrometric techniques. Results were statistically analyzed using one-way
ANOVA, at 0.05 probability level with M1N1TAB-14 software package. According to this study, there was no
significant difference between the batches in each brand in mean metal contents. But there were significant
differences among the brands in mean metal contents. The mean Fe content o f brand A, brand B and unbranded
samples were significantly higher than the WHO maximum permissible limit. This may be due to the metal (Fe)
contamination during the grinding process. Thus brand A, B and unbranded samples are not suitable for daily
consumption.
