title: Investigation of trace element content of cheese.
abstract: Nine trace elements (Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb) were determined in cheese by atomic absorption spectrophotometry with electrothermal atomization in a graphite tube, using the ashing procedure. Associations among mineral constituents were studied by means of principal component analysis, which allows determination of interdependences among trace elements in foods. A test for normality was used to investigate monovariate distributions, in order to estimate the symmetry of data vector. The correlation matrix was used as a starting matrix for principal component analysis; nine variables were reduced to four principal components. The clusters of elements appear to be determined by their origin.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Economia e Merceologia delle Risorse Naturali e della Produzione, Università di Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gabrielli Favretto
mesh_terms: D002611:Cheese / Q000032:analysis*; D003611:Dairy Products / Q000032:analysis*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic