Dashboard charting for online compliance monitoring of heavy metals in school-meal chicken and pork in Taiwan

Abstract

The use of dashboard monitoring is increasingly desirable for modern food safety management. Therefore, a customized dashboard was developed with three components: Traceable timing chart, Violation Table, and Statistical Table. Raw and cooked chicken (n = 84) and pork samples (n = 96) were taken from a major school-meal supplier in central Taiwan for ten months. The concentrations of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), total mercury (tHg) and total arsenic (tAs) were analyzed. Pb and tAs were detected in 12 – 46% and 73 – 76 % of samples, respectively, while Cd and tHg were detected at levels of minor concern. For the geometric mean, Pb, Cd, Hg and tAs were detected at 17.6, < LOD, 5.5 and 27.6 μg/kg in raw chicken, respectively, and at 12.1, 7.0, 5.9 and 13.3 μg/kg in raw pork, respectively. Fried and grilled samples had higher detection rates and concentrations than their uncooked samples. Pb was close to that reported in literature. Total arsenic was detected at a noticeably higher amount than the geometric mean (3 μg/kg) reported in the United States. The monitoring results of raw samples were in compliance with the regulations. Of all the samples, only two cooked chicken samples exceeded the regulatory standard of Pb (100 μg/kg).