Table 1 Comparison of the selected heavy metal concentrations (µg/g wet weight) in frozen imported bovine muscle, liver, and kidney samples with their international and National maximum permissible limit (MPL) (n = 105 for each tissue).
Heavy metal | Tissues | Minimum level | Maximum level | Mean ± SE | MPL (µg/g) | The number of samples exceeded the MPL | % of samples exceeded the MPL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hg | Muscle Liver Kidney | 0.013 0.001 0.001 | 1.228 1.190 0.790 | 0.312 ± 0.034x 0.273 ± 0.031x 0.167 ± 0.023y | 0.05a 0.05a 0.05a | 57 60 42 | 54.3% 57.1% 40% |
Pb | Muscle Liver Kidney | 0.020 0.006 0.003 | 1.999 1.841 2.050 | 0.684 ± 0.06x 0.763 ± 0.061x 0.716 ± 0.068x | 0.1b 0.5b 0.5b | 66 63 57 | 62.9% 60% 54.3% |
Cd | Muscle Liver Kidney | 0.007 0.010 0.011 | 0.100 0.390 0.211 | 0.030 ± 0.003x 0.056 ± 0.008y 0.073 ± 0.004z | 0.05c 0.5c 1.0c | 24 0 0 | 22.9% 0% 0% |
