Abstract
Rose tea is an aromatic herbal drink made from rose flowers’ fragrant petals and buds (after being dried). There are many beneficial components in rose tea, such as vitamin C, polyphenols, vitamin A, myrcene, quercetin, and other antioxidants. Although dried rose petal tea provides good benefits, there could be some potential for heavy metals, and mould contamination can occur during growth and storage. Heavy metal contamination may occur due to the absorption of these components through fertilizers during the growth process. Exposure of dried rose petals to humid conditions at room temperature from 5 d to 30 d caused mould contamination. In this research, the rose petals are characterized to investigate the existence of heavy metals from different farming methods: organic and inorganic fertilizer. Besides, the effect of shelf life on fungi or microorganism formation is also being studied. In this research work, the samples of rose plants were collected from two different locations using different types of fertilizer (organic and inorganic fertilizer). The samples undergo a pre-treatment process which comprised cleaning and drying roses. The analysis of heavy metal content was conducted using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS) equipment. This study used qualitative approaches to investigate any physical changes of colour and appearance on the dried rose petals samples for every 10 d in 6 weeks duration of time. The current studies suggest that there could be a possibility that the content of copper (Cu) at 203.71 ppb and potassium (K) (162725.23ppb) components have reduced the chance of the dried rose petals being exposed to mould infection and have better resistance against any contamination during the storage period. In food application, this finding is valuable as to provide a longer shelf-life span for the rose tea during storage time. However, it is important to ensure the content was still within the permissible limit for food according to the required standard.
