USO DO COBRE NO PREPARO DE ALIMENTOS E SUA IMPORTÂNCIA PARA A SAÚDE HUMANA

Abstract

Copper is an essential element, but toxic to humans at high levels. Some utensils used in the food industry, especially for fruit jam and distillates such as cachaça from alembic, are made with the mineral copper. However, there is a risk of heavy metal contamination and consequent adverse health effects. In this sense, this work brings a review of the literature showing the importance of the copper element for human health, addressing dietary needs, consequences of deficiency, limits and toxicity, and its commercial applications. The main use of copper is in electrical systems, as it is an excellent conductor of heat. But its application is wide, in the most diverse industrial activities, and combined with other metals it forms countless metal alloys. In the food area, copper is a mineral present during some production processes. But, despite the maximum copper limits recently established in Brazilian legislation on several foods, several products face obstacles in commercialization, especially when an export demand arises. Because the defined limits are still high and are not accepted in European and North American trade. It was thus concluded that there is a need for improvement in the production process of foods that use copper, to avoid contamination and possible damage to consumer health.