Multielemental Characterization of Chicken Breasts from Conventional and Sustainable Farms by Inductively Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) and Inductively Coupled Plasma – Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS)

Abstract

Sustainable chicken meat production has grown rapidly worldwide in the context of development. The study aimed to analyze macro (Ca, K, Mg, Na, P, S), micro (Cu, Mn, Rb, Sr, Zn), trace (Ba, Co, Cr, Ga, Li, Se, V), and toxic trace (As, Cd, Pb) elements in chicken breast meat from conventional and sustainable farms of South Korea. The elemental analyses were conducted by inductively coupled plasma – optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The contents of Zn, Sr, Ba, Se, Li, and Ga were higher in sustainable samples compared to in conventional farms. The trace and toxic element contents were lower compared to recommended standard values. Chemometric tests, including principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analyses (LDA), together explained the highest variability index (100.0%). The outcomes of this study help in profiling the elemental composition of chicken breast meat from South Korean conventional and sustainable farms.