Abstract
The study was conducted to determine the concentrations of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Co, Mn, Fe, Cr, Cd and Pb) in the liver, kidney and flesh of Cattle, Sheep and Goats from Anka and Bukkuyum Local Government areas of Zamfara State Nigeria. The levels of heavy metals in the liver, kidney and flesh of beef, mutton and caprine ranged from 56 to 549 μg·g-1 for Zn; 109 to 576 μg·g-1 for Fe; 0.0 to 4.0 μg·g-1 for Pb; 2.52 to 13.25 μg·g-1 for Mn; 0.00 to 19.64 μg·g-1 for Cr; 0.00 to 0.25 μg·g-1 for Cd; 0.00 to 2.71 μg·g-1 for Co and 3.59 to 538 μg·g-1 for Cu. The concentration of Cr, Pb and Mn in the kidneys and livers of the samples were observed to be higher than the maximum allowable level. Similarly, the exception of Cr in the liver of sheep and goat from Anka and liver of sheep from Bukkuyum, Pb in some liver and kidney samples and Mn in some liver, kidney samples and flesh of cattle from Anka were found to be polluted and hence unsafe for consumption.
Highlights
Heavy metal, is defined as that metal, which is neither essential nor has beneficial effects on the contrary; it displays severe toxicological symptoms at low level and is defined as metal with a density more than 5 g/cm3
The obtained results from this study revealed that concentration of lead in the kidney, liver and flesh of cattle, sheep and goat were higher than the permissible limit of 1 μg∙g−1 [13] with the exception of all flesh samples and kidney, liver of cattle and kidney of sheep from Anka were within the permissible limit
When compared to one another beef, mutton and caprine, show no significant differences in the levels of heavy metals content
Summary
Heavy metal, is defined as that metal, which is neither essential nor has beneficial effects on the contrary; it displays severe toxicological symptoms at low level and is defined as metal with a density more than 5 g/cm3 These metals belong to the group of elements described geochemically as trace elements because they are collectively comprised of less than 1% of the rocks in the earth crust. Improvement in the food production and processing technology had increased the chances of contamination of food with various environmental pollutants, especially heavy metals. Ingestion of this contaminant by animals causes deposition of residues in meat. Toxic effects of metals have been described in animals under relatively low levels of metals exposure [7]; one of the earliest effects is the disruption of trace element metabolism [8] [9]
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