ABSTRACT
Ninety chemical elements occur naturally in the earth’s crust. About 25 are known to be essential to life and therefore are present in living cells (Figure 8.1). Since our food is ultimately derived from living plants or animals, we can expect to find these 25 elements in foods as well. Foods also contain other elements because living systems can accumulate nonessential as well as essential elements from their environment. Moreover, elements may enter foods as contaminants during harvesting, processing, and storage or they may be present in intentional food additives.
