Determination of the content of micro and macro elements in laurel samples from the region of Herzegovina

Vesna Gojković Cvjetković^1*, Željka Marjanović-Balaban², Vesna Antunović³, Milan Vukić¹, Milenko Smiljanić¹, Dragan Vujadinović¹

¹University of East Sarajevo, Faculty of Technology Zvornik, Karakaj 34a, 75 400 Zvornik, Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina
²University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Forestry Banja Luka, Bulevar vojvode Petra Bojovića 1A, 78 000 Banja Luka, Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina
³University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Medicine Banja Luka, Department of pharmacy, Bulevar vojvode Petra Bojovića 1A, 78 000 Banja Luka, Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina

ARTICLE INFO	ABSTRACT
TYPE: Original scientific paper https://doi.org/10.17508/CJFST.2025.17.2.09 PDF	Laurel (Laurus nobilis L.) is an evergreen shrub or tree from the Lauraceae family. It is most commonly used as a spice. Laurel leaves contain essential oil, bitter substances and tannins. It has a very aromatic, slightly spicy, astringent and bitter taste. It is also often used as a preservative. However, in addition to having numerous advantages, the presence of heavy metals, even in low concentrations, can be toxic and cause numerous diseases. The aim of this work was to determine the content of micro- and macro- elements in laurel samples from the Herzegovina region. The content of metals in soil samples from which laurel was collected was also determined. The samples were prepared by wet digestion. The content of micro- and macro- elements was determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). According to the results, calcium exhibited the highest concentration among the macroelements (9055.59±24.71 mg/kg), whereas sodium exhibited the lowest (259.96±1.25 mg/kg). The measured content of heavy metals is below the detection limit in laurel, and in soil samples it does not exceed the maximum allowed values.
*CORRESPONDENCE Vesna Gojković Cvjetković vesna.gojkovic@tfzv.ues.rs.ba
ARTICLE HISTORY Received: June 26, 2025 Accepted: July 23, 2025
CITATION Gojković Cvjetković V, Marjanović-Balaban Ž, Antunović V, Vukić M, Smiljanić M, Vujadinović D. Determination of the content of micro and macro elements in laurel samples from the region of Herzegovina. Croatian Journal of Food Science and Technology (2025) 17 (2) 1 – 9
COPYRIGHT: © 2025 by the author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).
	KEYWORDS micro and macro elements; laurel; Herzegovina
	KEY CONTRIBUTION Laurel is one of the most commonly used spices. It is a good source of macronutrients. The use of the ICP-OES method is a rapid method for the determination of micro- and macro- elements in laurel and soil samples.