# Nutritional Quality and Safety Characteristics of Imported Biscuits Markered in Basrah, Iraq
## 3 Results and Discussion
### Heavy Metals of Biscuits Samples  
Table 4 shows the content of trace elements (Zn, Cu) and heavy metals (Pb, Cd) found in the examined biscuits. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline
**Biscuit Type** & **Zn (mg/kg)** & **Cu (mg/kg)** & **Pb (ug/kg)** & **Cd (ug/kg)** \\ \hline Cookies & & & & \\ BSC1-S & \(1.46\pm 0.44\) & \(5.16\pm 0.31\) & \(2.07\pm 0.06\) & ND \\ BSC2-S & \(4.03\pm 0.17\) & \(6.41\pm 0.31\) & \(2.12\pm 0.14\) & ND \\ BSC3-S & \(6.76\pm 0.55\) & \(5.43\pm 0.19\) & \(3.29\pm 0.21\) & ND \\ BSC1-I & \(6.17\pm 0.43\) & \(2.73\pm 1.06\) & \(10.92\pm 0.38\) & ND \\ BSC2-I & \(11.87\pm 0.36\) & \(2.80\pm 0.18\) & \(9.67\pm 0.62\) & ND \\ BSC3-I & \(10.61\pm 0.44\) & \(1.99\pm 0.75\) & \(14.27\pm 0.91\) & ND \\ BSC1-U & \(2.52\pm 0.38\) & \(2.15\pm 0.45\) & \(8.94\pm 1.27\) & ND \\ BSC2-U & \(4.55\pm 0.33\) & \(4.97\pm 0.11\) & \(2.74\pm 0.51\) & ND \\ BSC3-U & \(8.68\pm 0.24\) & \(2.06\pm 0.29\) & \(14.12\pm 1.29\) & ND \\ BSC1-T & \(2.51\pm 0.62\) & \(2.96\pm 0.41\) & \(12.08\pm 0.21\) & ND \\ BSC2-T & \(5.15\pm 0.12\) & \(5.13\pm 0.18\) & \(8.43\pm 0.14\) & ND \\ BSC3-T & \(9.22\pm 0.77\) & \(4.31\pm 0.11\) & \(8.66\pm 0.11\) & ND \\ Crackers & & & & \\ BSCr1-S & \(9.12\pm 0.06\) & \(3.47\pm 0.17\) & \(3.18\pm 0.08\) & ND \\ BSCr2-S & \(4.01\pm 0.23\) & \(4.61\pm 0.19\) & \(3.51\pm 0.13\) & ND \\ BSCr3-S & \(10.45\pm 0.32\) & \(4.01\pm 0.54\) & \(3.97\pm 0.09\) & ND \\ BSCr1-I & \(10.75\pm 0.38\) & \(1.82\pm 0.51\) & \(29.97\pm 0.16\) & ND \\ BSCr2-I & \(5.35\pm 0.52\) & \(2.67\pm 0.41\) & \(14.34\pm 0.82\) & ND \\ BSCr3-I & \(13.12\pm 0.78\) & \(5.49\pm 0.21\) & \(8.98\pm 0.47\) & ND \\ BSCr1-U & \(10.23\pm 0.25\) & \(1.41\pm 0.19\) & \(2.77\pm 0.41\) & ND \\ BSCr2-U & \(5.14\pm 0.15\) & \(4.59\pm 0.21\) & \(4.99\pm 0.16\) & ND \\ BSCr3-U & \(11.54\pm 0.24\) & \(5.51\pm 0.22\) & \(6.62\pm 0.43\) & ND \\ BSCr1-T & \(10.87\pm 0.23\) & \(4.41\pm 0.31\) & \(20.98\pm 0.13\) & ND \\ BSCr2-T & \(6.66\pm 0.31\) & \(3.13\pm 0.14\) & \(15.01\pm 0.12\) & ND \\ BSCr3-T & \(12.45\pm 0.46\) & \(4.68\pm 0.14\) & \(20.61\pm 7.79\) & ND \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 4: Trace elements (Zn, Cu) and heavy metal (Pb, Cd) content of biscuits marketed in Basrah, Iraq. The differences between samples may be related to raw ingredients such as flour, manufacturing operations such as baking, packaging with nylon wrappers, and contamination from the environment, all of which are plausible variables thought to impact the contamination of these biscuits. Other possible sources of variability within and among brands from the same manufacturer include batch-batch variances in manufacturing, differences in brand production processes, and environmental contaminations [4]. Wheat flour is a common ingredient in making biscuits, and as such, plants could absorb heavy metals from the soil [64]. The mean level of zinc detected in the samples varied from 1.46 to 14.36 mg/kg, without a significant effect by the variables \"Biscuit type\" and \"Country\" or by their first-order interaction. The observed range was lower than the zinc concentration reported by [PERSON] et al. [65], but similar to the findings of [PERSON] et al. [66], who found zinc concentrations ranging from 0.19 mg/kg to 8.62 mg/kg in Turkish biscuits, and of [PERSON] and [PERSON] [67] who detected zinc in the range 5.89-17.64 mg/kg in Croatian biscuits. Copper ranged from 1.41-9.46 mg/kg, without a significant effect by the variables \"Biscuit type\" and \"Country\" or by the interaction \"Biscuit type\"Country\". The observed copper concentration was higher compared to those of other authors who found 1.15-2.79 mg copper/kg in Croatian biscuits [67]. Zinc and copper are inorganic nutrients known to be higher in biscuits containing whole meal flour [67]. Moreover, wheat bran is known to contribute significantly more zinc compared to rice and oat bran, while oat fiber contains more copper than wheat and rice fiber [68]. Therefore, our findings could be explained by the presence of whole meal flours or bran in some samples (Supplementary Table S1).