# Investigation of Element Migration from Aluminum Cooking Pots Using ICP-MS
## 1 Introduction  
Cooking is an essential daily food preparation process. The quality of the pots used for food preparation is a significant factor for ensuring safe and healthy meals. One of the most commonly used types of pots in kitchens is those made from aluminum. When these aluminum pots are subjected to high temperatures during cooking and heating, there is a possibility of chemical elements migrating from the pots to the food in contact with them. The chemical elements that may migrate from these pots include Al, Fe, Ni, Cr, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, Cu, and Mn [1]. In lower quality products, more dangerous toxic elements such as Pb and Cd [2] may also migrate to the food. Low-quality aluminum cookware, especially those manufactured from metal scraps, have been reported to leach hazardous elements such as Ni, As, Cu, Cd, Pb, and Al into the cooked food [3]. Several studies have examined the migration of elements from aluminum [4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10]. Various factors, such as pot quality, the nature of the food, water type, cooking temperature and time, food acidity, salt, and spice content, have been reported to affect the migration of elements from cooking pots into food. [PERSON] et al. [11] conducted a study on the migration of Fe and Al into faba beans from stainless steel and aluminum cooking pots. The results showed that aluminum migrated only into cooked faba beans, increasing Al content from 22.3 to 43.2 mg/kg during the second cooking cycle. Iron also migrated from both pot types, with Fe levels increasing from 53.5 (first cooking cycle) to 66.9 mg/kg (second cycle). [PERSON] et al. [5] examined the effect of acidity, salt content, and temperature on aluminum leaching from aluminum cooking pots during food cooking. They used the weight loss method to quantify the aluminum that migrated into food in different food solutions and types of water. Their findings indicated that aluminum leaching increased at low pH levels due to an increased corrosion rate. Leaching was lower when using drinking water compared to tap water due to a lower corrosion rate in the former case. Increasing salt content was found to increase corrosion up to a certain level. [PERSON] et al. [12] investigated aluminum leaching from cooking wares and reported a significant amount of Al leaching from the used pots. They concluded that the addition of citric acid and salt to the food increased aluminum leaching from the cooking pots. [PERSON] et al. [13] studied the migration of Al from aluminum wares and foil, finding that the combination of citric acid and tomato juice resulted in the highest Al leaching in beef (292 mg/kg), while the maximum Al level in chicken (210 mg/kg) occurred with a combination of yogurt and lemon juice. [PERSON] et al. [14] reported on the diffusion of aluminum into meat and fish cooked using commercial aluminum foils, quantifying the results using ICP-MS. [PERSON] et al. [2] investigated the migration of Pb and Cd from Al, Fe, and ceramic cooking pots to cooked food, finding that the migration of these elements depended considerably on cooking temperature, time, pot materials, and food ingredients. [PERSON] et al. [15] examined the migration of Al into rice cooked in distilled water using different cooking pots. They found that new Al pots had lower leached Al compared to old Al pots. No significant changes were observed in the leached elements' concentration between new and old stainless-steel pots. [PERSON] et al. [16] analyzed chicken tissues before and after cooking in iron and aluminum pots, quantifying the content of Al, Fe, Cu, Ca, Cu, Mn, and Ni using microwave-induced plasma optical emission spectrometry and flame atomic absorption spectrometry. Ca, Fe, and Al were the major leached contents in the analyzed samples. [PERSON] et al. [17] concluded that Al cookware could have a detrimental effect on food quality due to element migration. They reported that Al cookware posed the highest risk among all types of cookware. The disadvantages of using aluminum cookware for food preparation have been reported [17; 18].