Cadmium and lead in Hungarian porcine products and tissues

✍ Scribed by Zoltan Gyõri; Bela Kovács; Peter Daniels; Peter Szabo; Clive Phillips

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 108 KB
• Volume: 85
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5142
• DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.2069

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Samples of kidney, blood, lungs, hair, heart, liver, spleen, muscle, ear, rib, skin and faeces were obtained from 200 fattened pigs in 10 abattoirs across Hungary. These were analysed in triplicate for cadmium and lead concentrations by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The highest concentrations of cadmium were found in the kidney, followed by hair and faeces and then liver, heart and lungs. Lead concentrations were greater in the hair and faeces than other tissues. Both lead and cadmium concentrations in meat and offal were below the legal limits. There was more variation in lead than cadmium concentrations between abattoirs, and across abattoirs there was no correlation between concentrations of the two elements. Blood lead concentration was correlated with the lead concentration in bone, kidney, liver, spleen and lungs, and was a better indicator of lead contamination than hair lead concentration. The cadmium concentrations of the kidney, liver, spleen, lungs and faeces were highly correlated, and it is suggested that faeces is the best on‐farm indicator of cadmium contamination. Across animals, blood cadmium correlated less closely with the cadmium concentration of the body tissues than it did with the lead concentration, demonstrating positive interaction between the two elements. By contrast, hair and to a lesser extent bone cadmium concentrations were negatively correlated with the lead concentration of most tissues. It is concluded that lead and cadmium concentrations in pigs are best monitored in blood and faeces concentrations, respectively. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry