Few heavy metal levels in certain tissues of cattle in Burdur of Turkey

Abstract

In the present study, the occurrence of some heavy metals was determined in muscle, liver and kidney tissues of cattle in Burdur, Turkey. The samples were analyzed for cadmium, lead, arsenics and mercury using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry in 50 samples. Concentrations of Cd exceed the permissible limits in 2 samples of muscle tissues (0.05 mg/kg), while the concentrations of Cd in the liver and kidney tissues were below the allowed limits (0.5 mg/kg for liver; 1.0 mg/kg for kidney). One sample in muscle tissue contained Pb above the allowed limit (0.1 mg/kg). Arsenic was detected in one sample of muscle, liver and kidney tissues. Hg was not detected in any of the samples. A high proportion of samples did not contain detectable level of the heavy metals. Except for Cd and Pb in muscle tissue, concentrations of other metals were below the permissible limits.