Quality assessment of some selected locally produced and marketed soft drinks in Ghana

Soft drinks have been reported to contain some toxic heavy metals beyond the acceptable limits in some countries. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the quality characteristics of selected locally produced and marketed soft drinks. Three (3) different batches of 23 soft drinks were sampled from the Takoradi markets in Western Region of Ghana. Qualitative tests for the presence of reducing sugars, phosphates, alcohol and carbon dioxide in the samples were carried out. The heavy metal contents and physicochemical properties were also determined with Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) methods. The results indicated the presence of reducing sugars, carbon dioxide and the absence of alcohol in all the selected soft drink samples. The pH, total sugars, moisture, total soluble solids (TSS) and titratable acidity ranged from 2.42 – 3.44, 3.30 – 10.44%, 85.63 – 94.85%, 5.00 – 13.33°Brix, and 0.21 – 1.99% respectively. The concentration of heavy metals were also below detection limits in all samples. The quality of the selected soft drinks were within specifications prescribed by regulatory bodies.