Detection of aluminum residue in fresh and stored canned beer

The United States produces about 200 million barrels of beer each year from which a large percentage is packaged into aluminum cans. It is important to identify the possible effects a particular foodstuff may induce on its package especially when it is being purchased and consumed nationwide on a regular basis. Very few studies have been done on aluminum can corrosion by beer. The purpose of this study was to compare aluminum levels in fresh, and stored, canned beer representative of U.S. quality draft. A 2 × 2 × 4 design was employed for two brands of beer, A and B, held at two different temperatures of 23 °C (room temperature) and 5 °C (refrigerated) over a period of 5 months. Room temperature beer was found to contain more aluminum (108μgl−1) than refrigerated beer and brand A at room temperature had significantly more aluminum content (546μgl−1) than brand B (414μgl−1) at the end of the duration of storage period. Aluminum content changes from day 0 to day 150 were significant. From these results, it is shown that aluminum cans are corroded over time by canned beer. However this corrosion may be reduced through refrigeration.