Ricerc@Sapienza

In line with the Circular Economy approach, the production of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) with organic waste as the feedstock may a biotechnological application to reduce waste and recover high-value materials. The potential contaminants that could transfer from bio-waste to a PHA include inorganic elements, such as heavy metals. Hence, the total content and migratability of certain elements were evaluated in several PHA samples produced from different origins and following different methods. The total content of certain elements in PHA ranged between 0.0001 (Be) and 49500 mg kg-1 (Na).

Together with essential elements, toxic elements can also be found in food. In this study, we analysed the content
of 41 elements in milk from mammals (cow, goat, and donkey) and plant-based milk alternatives (from soy, rice,
oat, spelt, almond, coconut, hazelnut, walnut, cashew, hemp, and quinoa) using inductively coupled plasma
mass spectrometry and cold vapour generation atomic fluorescence (for Hg). The analytical methods were validated
using both milk certified reference materials and recovery experiments for different milk samples, obtaining