Biological Trace Element Research (2023) 201:2627–2635

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-022-03348-7

The Toxicological Safety Assessment of Heavy Metal Impurities (As, Pb,

and Cd) in Mint Tea Infusions (Mentha piperita L.) Available in Polish
Markets
Kamil Jurowski1 · Elżbieta Kondratowicz‑Pietruszka2 · Mirosław Krośniak3

Received: 20 May 2022 / Accepted: 28 June 2022 / Published online: 2 July 2022
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022

Abstract
Mint tea (Mentha piperita L.) is one of the most widely consumed single infusion herbal teas (infusion) around the world;
however, impurities and pollutants can pose a potential health risk to human health during tea drinking. The idea of this
study was the comprehensive toxicological risk assessment (TRA) of three heavy metals (As, Pb, and Cd) in mint tea infu-
sions (Mentha piperita L.; n = 17) available in Polish markets. We applied an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
(ICP-MS)-based methodology for the determination of the chosen heavy metals and designed a specific TRA approach. The
first step in our TRA was the determination of the elements investigated (heavy metal impurity profile, µg/L of infusion).
The second step was the estimation of the weekly intake (µg/L of infusion/week) based on the weekly consumption of tea.
The third step was the estimation of the weekly intake per body weight (µg/L of infusion/week/bw) based on the weekly
consumption of tea per adult person compared to the Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI) established by the Joint
FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). The level of investigated heavy metals occurs in all of the inves-
tigated mint tea infusions but at a relatively low level. The heavy metal profile indicated presence of As (0.36–1.254 µg/L),
Pb (0.47–1.24 µg/L), and Cd (0.17–0.40 µg/L) in all the samples investigated. The basic analysis of the general content shows
that As levels (mean = 0.70 µg/L) were very similar to the Pb levels (mean = 0.72 µg/L). The Cd content (mean = 0.21 µg/L)
was approximately 3.5 times lower than the As and Pb levels. TRA provides satisfactory results for regulatory purposes.
TRA for the elements investigated in the analyzed products indicated that there was no health hazard to consumers for
weekly exposure. The results indicated that the levels of investigated elements in daily doses should not represent any health
hazard to the consumer after drinking mini tea infusions from products available in Polish markets. This well-designed TRA
methodology was useful and important for regulatory toxicology purposes.

Keywords  Mint tea · Tea infusions · Toxicological risk assessment (TRA) · Elemental profile · ICP-MS

Abbreviations GI Gastrointestinal
EAN European article number HMI Heavy metal impurities
EWIBW Estimation of weekly intake depending on body TRA​ Toxicological risk assessment
weight ICP-MS Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
EWI Estimation of weekly intake JECFA Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food
Additives
PMTDI Provisional maximum tolerable daily intake
* Kamil Jurowski PTWI Provisional tolerable weekly intake
jurowski.tox@gmail.com RSD Relative standard deviation
1 RR Raw results
Institute of Medical Studies, Medical College, Rzeszów
University, Al. mjr. W. Kopisto 2a, 35‑959 Rzeszów, Poland
2
Department of General Chemistry, Cracow University
of Economics, Sienkiewicza 5, 30‑033 Kraków, Poland
3
Department of Food Chemistry and Nutrition, Medical
College, Jagiellonian University, Medyczna 9,
30‑688 Kraków, Poland

13
Vol.:(0123456789)
2628
Introduction
Mint tea (Mentha piperita L.) as raw material is one of
the most widely consumed single-ingredient herbal teas
(infusion) around the world [1].
Mint tea infusion, brewed from the plant leaves in dif-
ferent forms (silk/cotton/nylon/paper tea bags or leafy/nee-
dle), is applied usually for medical purposes, especially
for [5] biliary disorders, dyspepsia, enteritis, flatulence,
gastritis, intestinal colic and spasms of the bile duct, gall-
bladder, and gastrointestinal (GI) tract.
Although popular applications for medical purposes
have been mentioned, certain pollutants in mint tea leaves
may pose a potential health risk to human health during
tea drinking. Especially important pollutants from a total
environmental point of view are heavy metal impurities
(HMI). HMI pose a health hazard and are serious public
health concern worldwide [6, 7]. It should be underlined
that HMI are one of the most hazardous contaminants
due to their non-degradable, persistent, accumulative,
and toxic nature in the environment [8, 9]. An important
link in the transfer of HMI from soil to human is plants
(including herbs applied as tea for infusion). The level of
HMI in herbs is conditional, the content being affected by
the geochemical characteristics of a soil and the ability of
herbs to selectively accumulate some of the HMI [10–12].
Usually in toxicology, As, Pb, and Cd are classified as
HMI [13–15]. It should be emphasized that due to the
varied bioavailability of HMI in soil, its content in raw
herbs may vary significantly [16, 17]. Therefore, a very
important problem in modern environmental analysis is
the (bio)monitoring and TRA of HMI in herbs [18]. In the
context of exposure to mint tea, this problem seems very
basic but extremely important due to the lack of compre-
hensive TRA of HMI in mint tea infusion in the scientific
literature. In the scientific literature, there is only one arti-
cle described by Łozak et al. in 2002 [10] related to deter-
mination of selected elements (As, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr,
Cu, Fe, I, Li, Mg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, Sn, Sr, Ti, V, and Zn) in
peppermint (Mentha piperitae folium) infusions. However,
this article focuses mainly on element levels and daily
need for the chosen elements, but not on a comprehensive
toxicological risk assessment. Therefore, to evaluate the
safety of mint tea drinking with peppermint, a complex
toxicological risk assessment is necessary that includes
an estimation of the exposure to the EI mentioned in the
final tea (infusion) and the associated health risks. For this
purpose, the comprehensive and well-designed TRA of the
mentioned HMI in mint tea infusions is desirable.
Therefore, the objective of our study is not the deter-
mination of the chosen heavy metals (As, Pb, and Cd),
but the complete TRA of these HMI in mint tea infusions
13
K. Jurowski et al.
(Mentha piperita L.) available in Polish markets (n = 17).
Justifications for choosing these three metals were as
follows:
• The fact that As, Pb, and impurities are most important
from a toxicological point of view (heavy metals) [13–
15].
• Our analytical possibilities and scientific experiences.
• The possibility of this kind of contamination in the sam-
ple materials based on literature [10].
• The rarity of this type of research in the field of compre-
hensive TRA of HMI in consumer products.
• The need to fill a gap in the scientific literature regarding
the control of these HMI in consumer product for regula-
tory purposes.
The first step in our studies was to determine the inves-
tigated HMI for the development of the HMI profile in tea
infusions (µg/L of infusion). The second step was the esti-
mation of the weekly intake (µg/L of infusion/week) based
on the weekly consumption of tea (approximately 6 L of tea
per week based on [19]). The last step was the estimation of
the weekly intake per body weight (µg/L of infusion/week/
bw) based on the weekly consumption of tea per person
(with approximately 70 kg bw) compared to the Provisional
Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI) established by the Joint
FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA).
Additionally, for elements without PTWI values, individual
TRA was performed.
Materials and Methods
Characteristic of Mint Tea Samples and Its Collection
Samples (n = 17) representing mint tea which are commonly
consumed in Poland (all available products in our country)
were randomly collected from general stores in five cities in
the outskirts of Poland (Gdańsk—north, Kraków—south,
Rzeszów—east, Poznań—west, Warsaw—center) between
10 June and 19 September 2021. Mint tea samples were
commercially available in different forms (e.g., silk/cotton/
nylon/paper tea bags or leaf-like/needle-like). Most mint
tea bags were packaged in boxes with 20–25 pieces of tea
bags (containing 1.4–2.0 g of raw material) or as raw mate-
rial (leaf-shaped/needle-shaped). All samples were applied
as supplied by the manufacturer, without any additional
preparation steps (drying, grinding, or (pre)washing). The
descriptive characteristics of the mint tea samples (form,
amount of raw material for the infusion process, time for
the infusion process/brew time, country of origin, European
article number—EAN) are briefly summarized in Table 1.
The Toxicological Safety Assessment of Heavy Metal Impurities (As, Pb, and Cd) in Mint Tea… 2629

Table 1  The descriptive characteristics of analyzed mint tea samples available in Poland

Code of Form Amount of raw material for Time for infusion process Country of origin EAN
sample infusion process, g (brew time), minutes

A Tea bag 1.5 8–10 Poland 5,906,881,826,065

B Leaf-like 2.0 7–9 Poland nd
C Tea bag 1.0 5–10 nd 5,900,738,000,103
D Tea bag 2.0 5–10 Malaysia 5,051,898,696,337
E Tea bag 2.0 10 Poland 5,900,956,002,309
F Tea bag 1.5 5–8 Poland 5,900,675,006,275
G Tea bag 2.0 5 Poland 5,901,483,060,206
H Nylon tea bags 2.0 8–10 Poland 5,900,396,019,783
I Needle-like 1.0–1.5 (teaspoon) 10 Egypt 5,909,000,519,206
J Tea bag 2.0 8 Poland 4,056,489,007,159
K Tea bag 2.0 5–8 Poland 5,903,886,172,371
L Tea bag 1.5 5–8 Poland nd
M Silk tea bags 2.0 10 Poland 5,909,990,029,303
N Needle-like 1.0–1.5 (teaspoon) 5–8 Poland 5,901,483,130,022
O Tea bag 1.5 3–5 Poland 5,900,175,431,737
P Needle-like 1.0–1.5 (teaspoon) 10 Poland 5,900,956,006,628
Q Tea bag 1.4 5–7 Poland 5,900,888,010,915

EAN European article number.

Table 2  Concentrations of the analyzed elements in applied multi- Table 3  The optimized operating conditions of applied ICP-MS
element stock solution apparatus
Element Concentration in applied multi- ICP-MS Elan DRC-e Perkin Elmer (US)
element stock solution, mg·L−1
Sample mIntroduction Scott spray chamber
As 97.0 RF power, W 1150
Pb 9.9 Skimmer cone Ni
Cd 10.0 Sampler cone Ni
Cooling gas flow rate (L·min−1) 17
Scanning mode Peak hopping
Number of sweeps/reading 4
Chemicals
Number of readings/replicate 2
Number of replicate 3
The analysis was performed for the elements As, Pb, and
Cd. For this purpose, two multi-element stock solutions
(CHECL01.13632.0100 and Merck 1.10580.0100) contain-
ing Ag, As, Au, Cd, Co, Cr, Cs, Li, Mo, Pb, Se, Sr, and V plasma excitation power was 1150 W; the gas flow rates
were applied as an internal standard. The concentrations of for plasma gas, carrier gas, and makeup gas were 15.0, 1.1,
elements in the multi-element stock solution are shown in ­ in−1, respectively. The optimized experimental
and 1.0 L m
Table 2. parameters are summarized in Table 3.
Ultrapure demineralized water was obtained by Milli-Q
water purification system (Millipore, Bedford, MA, USA). The Mint Tea Infusion Process Procedure
Nitric acid (suprapure grade, 65%) was purchased from and the Determination of Elements
Merck.
The tea infusion process was carried out according to the
Instrumentations information described in Table 1 (that is, the amount of raw
material for the infusion process and the time for the infu-
For simultaneous multi-element detection of As, Pb, and sion). This process consists of adding 200 mL of boiling
Cd, the ICP-MS technique was applied. The applied analyti- water (ultrapure demineralized water) to the appropriate
cal instrument was an Elan DRC-e Perkin Elmer (US). The amount of raw tea material (silk/cotton/nylon/paper tea bags

13
2630
or leaf-like/needle-like) in a 250-mL Erlenmeyer flask. The
tea infusion was mixed using a glass rod to ensure adequate
wetting and then covered for 3–8 min (based on the recom-
mended tea brewing time, that is, 3–10 min).
After the infusion process, the obtained solutions were
decanted and cooled to room temperature until analysis was
performed using ICP-MS-based methodology. The deter-
mination of elements was based on simultaneous multi-
element detection of As, Pb, and Cd using a spectrometer
Elan DRC-e PerkinElmer (US). All instrumental parameters
were briefly described in the “Instrumentations” section. All
details of the analytical calibration strategy and quality con-
trol were described in the supplementary material (SM 1).
The summary of the mint tea infusion process procedure and
the determination of the elements investigated are presented
schematically in Fig. 1.
Toxicological Risk Assessment Strategy
The comprehensive toxicological risk assessment to esti-
mate the health risks of investigated HMI (As, Pb, and Cd)
in mint tea diffusions available in Poland (n = 17) consists
of three steps:
1) Tea infusion (µg/L of infusion) as the HMI profile, the
half violin plots, and the descriptive statistics (mini-
mum, maximum, mean, skewness, and kurtosis);
2) The estimation of weekly intake (EWI, µg/L of infusion/
week) based on weekly tea consumption (approximately
6 L of tea per week based on [19]) – Eq. 1.
EWI = RR × 6(L∕week) (1)
 where:
EWI estimated weekly intake (µg/L of infusion/week)
RR raw results (µg/L).
Fig. 1  The summary of the mint
tea infusion process procedure
and the determination of investi-
gated heavy metal impurities
(HMI): As, Pb, and Cd
13
K. Jurowski et al.
3) The estimation of weekly intake depending on body
weight (EWIBW, µg/L of infusion/week/bw) based on
weekly tea consumption per person (with approximately
70 kg bw) compared to Provisional Tolerable Weekly
Intake (PTWI) or other toxicological dose descriptors –
Eq. 2.
EWIBW = EWI∕BW (2)
 where:
EWI estimated weekly intake (µg/L of infusion/week)
BW average body weight (approximately 70 kg bw) (kg)
The idea of our studies with the toxicological risk
assessment steps (marked in the form of a box with dashed
lines) is schematically presented in Fig. 2.
Statisical Analysis
Preliminary data collection was performed using Excel
2010 (Microsoft Office; licensed by Rzeszów University).
All data were expressed as means of five independent rep-
licates with standard error (the mean ± standard error).
Statistical descriptive statistics (minimum, maximum,
mean, skewness, and kurtosis) were made using Origin
2021 Pro (licensed by Jagiellonian University). EI profiles
as half-viola plots for each element were made applying
Origin 2021 Pro (licensed by Jagiellonian University).
Each step of the toxicological risk assessment approach
was calculated using self-programmed Excel macros
(Excel 2010; Microsoft Office; licensed by the Rzeszów
University).
The Toxicological Safety Assessment of Heavy Metal Impurities (As, Pb, and Cd) in Mint Tea… 2631

Fig. 2  The idea of all steps of investigated studies: collection of samples (n = 17), the mint tea infusions process procedure, and toxicological
risk assessment steps (marked in the form of a box with a dashed lines)

Results and Discussion

Elemental Impurity Profile in Mint Tea Infusions

(Mentha piperita L.) from Markets in Poland

The HMI profile (µg/L) for all investigated samples—mint

tea infusions (200 mL) for products A–Q—is presented on
Fig. 3. To ensure better transparency and more precise analy-
sis of each HMI separately, the plots as violin with box were
prepared (Figs. 4, 5, and 6). Additionally, the descriptive
statistics (minimum, maximum, mean, RSD, kurtosis, and
skewness) are shown in Table 4.
In general, all investigated elemental impurities were pre-
sent in all infusions of mint tea. The As content was vari-
able (in the range of 0.36 to 1.26 µg/L; mean = 0.70 µg/L).
Individual analysis shows that the lowest As content was
Fig. 3  The HMI profile of mint tea (Mentha piperita L.) samples
in sample O (0.36 ± 0.012 µg/L) and the highest level was (A–Q) from markets in Poland after infusion process (µg/L)
in sample P (approximately 1.25 ± 0.08  mg/L). On Pb
impurity, on the other hand, the levels were also variable
(in the range of 0.47 to 1.24 µg/L; mean = 0.72 µg/L). The in sample A (0.40 ± 0.07 µg/L). The basic analysis of the
lowest level of Pb was in sample P (0.47 ± 0.08 µg/L) and overall content (Table 4, Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6) shows that
the highest content was in sample A (1.24 ± 0.09 µg/L). As levels (mean = 0.70 µg/L) were very similar to Pb levels
Finally, the Cd content was at similar level (in the range (mean = 0.72 µg/L), and Cd content (mean = 0.21 µg/L) was
of 0.14 to 0.40 µg/L; mean = 0.21 µg/L), except sample A approximately 3.5 times lower than As and Pb levels. Skwe-
(highest value = 0.40 µg/L). The lowest level of Cd was in ness and kurtosis values confirm the distribution of results
sample I (0.14 ± 0.06 µg/L) and the highest content was and their consistency.

13
2632
Fig. 4  The plot as violin with box for As level (µg/L) in analyzed
products (A–Q)
Fig. 5  The plot as violin with box for Pb level (µg/L) in analyzed
products (A–Q)
As mentioned in the “Introduction” section, only one
article described by Łozak et al. in 2002 [10] is related to
the determination of selected elements (As, Ba, Ca, Cd,
Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, I, Li, Mg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, Sn, Sr, Ti, V,
and Zn) in mint tea infusions (Mentha piperitae folium).
The comparison of the values (means) with the litera-
ture data [10] is presented for selected elements in Table 5.
Comparison of the results obtained (means, µg/L) with
literature values (from [10], mg/kg) indicated that our
results are different from the literature values. The larg-
est discrepancies were observed for Pb (obtained results/
literacy value: 1/1500). These differences probably result
from the comparison of average (mean) values for our
results characterized by variable ranges and the number
13
K. Jurowski et al.
Fig. 6  The plot as violin with box for Cd level (µg/L) in analyzed
products (A–Q)
of investigated products (n = 17), compared to only a few
samples (n = 6) from the literature [10].
The Estimation of Weekly Exposure Based on Weekly
Intake of Mint Tea
For a complete TRA of investigated HMI for human health,
the required second step is to estimate the weekly exposure
based on the weekly intake of mint tea. It is not easy because
there are many ways to apply analyzed products based on
frequency of use. For the toxicological risk assessment, the
worst-case scenario (WCS) is also applied, i.e., in this case,
the highest possible frequency of tea consumption per week.
Based on the assumptions of Matuszak et al. [19] that the
average consumer drinks six teas per week, the estimation of
the weekly intake of HMI in mint tea infusions is presented
in Table 6. Due to the lack of any toxicological reference
values for this estimation, the discussion for this part is not
possible; however, this step (i.e., multiplying obtained values
six times) is crucial for the last step of TRA, the estimation
of weekly intake depending on body weight based on weekly
mint tea consumption.
Estimation of the Weekly Intake of HMI Depending
on Body Weight Based on Weekly Consumption
of Mint Tea
The last step in the TRA conducted of HMI in mint tea
infusions is the estimation of weekly intake based on body
weight based on weekly mint tea consumption. To do this,
the weekly intake for each HMI in the investigated samples
(Table 6) was calculated by dividing by 70 kg (average adult
human weight recommended by EFSA [20]). The results are
shown in Table 7.
The Toxicological Safety Assessment of Heavy Metal Impurities (As, Pb, and Cd) in Mint Tea… 2633

Table 4  The descriptive Element Minimum, µg/L Maximum, µg/L Mean, µg/L RSD, % Kurtosis Skewness
statistics of investigated EI in all
analyzed samples (A–Q) As 0.36 1.26 0.70 1.1–10.71 0.059 0.94
Pb 0.47 1.24 0.72 0.8–6.7 1.95 1.18
Cd 0.14 0.40 0.21 2.1–10.4 10.14 2.73

Table 5  The comparison of obtained results (means, µg/L) with lit- Table 7  The estimation of Product Estimation of weekly
erature values (from [10]) for As, Pb, and Cd in peppermint (Mentha weekly intake per body weight intake. µg/week/bw
piperitae folium) infusions based on weekly mint tea
consumption (6 infusions per As Pb Cd
HMI Obtained mean value week)
A 0.076 0.11 0.034
Obtained mean value, µg/L Literature
value [6], B 0.058 0.078 0.018
mg/kg C 0.091 0.069 0.020
D 0.047 0.083 0.020
As 0.70 ± 0.082 0.048 ± 0.004
E 0.040 0.065 0.017
Pb 0.72 ± 0.071 1.12 ± 0.14
F 0.049 0.058 0.019
Cd 0.21 ± 0.027 0.008 ± 0.001
G 0.058 0.060 0.018
H 0.043 0.054 0.018
I 0.044 0.048 0.012
Table 6  The estimation of J 0.050 0.067 0.016
Product Estimation of weekly
weekly intake of HMI based intake. µg/week K 0.052 0.055 0.017
on weekly mint tea infusions L 0.059 0.048 0.018
consumption (6 infusions per As Pb Cd
week) M 0.044 0.061 0.018
A 5.33 7.45 2.39 N 0.077 0.065 0.018
B 4.04 5.49 1.26 O 0.031 0.043 0.017
C 6.37 4.83 1.40 P 0.11 0.041 0.015
D 3.31 5.84 1.42 Q 0.091 0.042 0.015
E 2.84 4.57 1.18
F 3.46 4.08 1.32
G 4.08 4.22 1.29 presented as µg of pollutant per week per 1 kg of body
H 2.99 3.77 1.28 weight. It should be underlined that this idea emphasizes
I 3.12 3.34 0.84 the importance of long-term exposure that is not expressed
J 3.47 4.70 1.12 by another point of reference, i.e., the provisional maxi-
K 3.67 3.82 1.16 mum tolerable daily intake (PMTDI), its analog, but on
L 4.13 3.36 1.29 a daily basis. However, the evaluations of the Joint FAO/
M 3.06 4.26 1.27 WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)
N 5.37 4.55 1.29 [23] included HMI investigated: P ­ TWIAs = 0.015 mg/kg
O 2.14 3.03 1.20 bw/week [24], ­PTWIPb = 0.025 mg/kg bw/week [25], and
P 7.53 2.84 1.04 ­P TWICd = 7.0 µg/kg bw/week [2]. For this purpose, the
Q 6.40 2.94 1.08 ratios of the obtained values of weekly intake (µg/kg bw/
week) for HMI to the established PTWI were calculated
and presented in Table 8.
An appropriate baseline (toxicological reference val- The obtained results from Table 8 indicate that the weekly
ues) for the final step in applied TRA is the compari- exposure for As, Pb, and Cd compared to PTWI is generally
son of the estimated weekly intake depending on body low (it does not exceed 1% in any case):
weight with the values of the weekly provisional tolerable
weekly intake (PTWI). This widely applied parameter in • For As, in the range: 0.20–0.72%.
assessing the limits for unessential elements in the diet • For Pb, in the range: 0.16–0.44%.
is issued by the Joint FAO/World Health Organization • For Cd, in the range: 0.17–0.49%.
Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) [20, 21].
The idea of PTWI was established in 1972 by JECFA Therefore, it can be concluded that each of the products
as an intake value expressed on a weekly basis, usually analyzed available in Polish markets do not represent a

13
2634 K. Jurowski et al.

Table 8  The ratios (%) of the
obtained values for As, Cd, Pb,
and Se of weekly intake (µg/
kg bw/week) to the established
PTWI
Product The ratios (%) of Furthermore, a well-designed TRA methodology will be
the obtained values useful and important for regulatory toxicology studies.
of weekly intake Because these environmental studies are very rare, it would
(µg/kg bw/week) to be valuable to conduct a broader study considering other
the PTWI for each
element mint tea infusions (from other countries).
Supplementary Information.
As Cd Pb

A 0.51 0.49 0.43 Supplementary Information  The online version contains supplemen-
tary material available at https://d​ oi.o​ rg/1​ 0.1​ 007/s​ 12011-0​ 22-0​ 3348-7.
B 0.38 0.26 0.31
C 0.61 0.29 0.28 Author Contribution  KJ: methodology, formal analysis, investigation,
D 0.31 0.29 0.33 writing—original draft, and visualization; MK: methodology, formal
E 0.27 0.24 0.26 analysis, and writing—original draft; MK: validation and methodol-
F 0.33 0.27 0.23 ogy; EKP: sample collection and formal analysis.
G 0.39 0.26 0.24
Data Availability  All data generated or analyzed during this study are
H 0.29 0.26 0.22 included in this published article and its supplementary information
I 0.30 0.17 0.19 file.
J 0.33 0.23 0.27
K 0.35 0.24 0.22 Code Availability  Not applicable.
L 0.39 0.26 0.19
M 0.29 0.26 0.24 Declarations 
N 0.51 0.26 0.26
O 0.20 0.25 0.17 Ethics Approval  Not applicable.
P 0.72 0.21 0.16 Consent to Participate  Not applicable.
Q 0.61 0.22 0.17
Consent for Publication  Not applicable.

Competing Interests  The authors declare no competing interests.

health hazard to the consumers for weekly exposure includ-
ing As, Pb, and Cd.

Conclusions and Recommendations References

The level of HMI investigated in all of the investigated
mint tea infusions occurs, but at a relatively low level. The
elemental profile in mint tea infusions indicated the pres-
ence of As (0.36–1.25  µg/L), Pb (0.47–1.24  µg/L), and
Cd (0.17–0.40 µg/L) in all the investigated samples. Basic
analysis of the overall content (Table 4, Figs. 3, 4, 5, and
6) shows that As levels (mean = 0.70  µg/L) were very
similar to Pb levels (mean = 0.72 µg/L), and Cd content
(mean = 0.21 µg/L) was approximately 3.5 times lower than
As and Pb levels. The comparison of the results obtained
with the values of the literature indicated that our results are
different from the literature values.
The comprehensive TRA for As, Pb, and Cd in the prod-
ucts indicated that consumers were not at risk for health
consequences due to weekly exposure. The results indicated
that the HMI levels in the daily dose should not represent
any health hazard to the consumer after drinking mint tea
infusions of products available in Polish markets.
To the best of our knowledge, our comprehensive TRA
strategy for investigated HMI provides pioneer data, and they
may be valuable for other investigators and manufacturers.
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Derivatives, 20(8), 619-633. https://doi/10.1002/ptr.1936
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minant​ s-​jecfa-​databa​ se/H
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