<P> Gold and silver are approved food foils in the European Union, as E175 and E174 additives respectively . The independent European food - safety certification agency, TÜV Rheinland, has deemed gold leaf safe for consumption . Gold and silver leaf are also certified as kosher . These inert precious metal foils are not considered toxic to human beings nor to broader ecosystems . Large quantities of ingested bioactive silver can cause argyria, but the use of edible silver or gold as vark is not considered harmful to the body, since the metal is in inert form (not ionic bioactive form), and the quantities involved in normal use are minuscule . </P> <P> One study has found that about 10% of 178 foils studied from the Lucknow (India) market were made of aluminium . Of the tested foils, 46% of the samples were found to have the desired purity requirement of 99.9% silver, whereas the rest had less than 99.9% silver . All the tested Indian foils contained on average trace levels of nickel (487 ppm), lead (301 ppm), copper (324 ppm), chromium (83 ppm), cadmium (97 ppm) and manganese (43 ppm). All of these are lower than natural anthropogenic exposures of these metals; the authors suggest there is a need to address a lack of purity standards in European Union and Indian food additive grade silver . The total silver metal intake per kilogram of sweets eaten, from vark, is less than one milligram . </P>

Which metals are used to make varakh the shiny foil that is used to garnish sweetmeats