Ghee and oil is one of the important ingredients of food especially in south Asian region. Heavy metals are one of the potential hazards associated with food. Different oil and ghee samples were collected from the local Market, the samples of different processing stages were collected from a local ghee industry while the raw samples were collected directly from field. The aim of the study was to determine and compare the variation in concentrations of heavy metals in ghee, fractions of ghee, raw oil and commercially available edible oils. The metals were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrometry after acid digestion. The concentrations for nickel, copper, iron, zinc, and lead were observed in the range of 0.013–1.01, 0.02-0.1, 0.157-1.14, 0.469-2.48, 0.006-0.024 ppm respectively. The highest nickel content (1.01ppm) was found in hydrogenated fraction of ghee however, the concentrations of metals decrease during different stages of oil refining. It was observed that the processing may add to the contamination of heavy metals along with the anthropogenic activities in the environment.
