Copper and zinc contents in different organs of animals slaughtered in Casablanca city-Morocco

This work is mainly devoted to the study of trace elements concentrations, copper and zinc, in different organs of 50 cattle, 50 sheep, 30 camels and 40 equines slaughtered in municipal slaughterhouse of Casablanca, which is the main source of consumption meat in the study area. The organs that have been studied were the liver, lung, skeletal muscle, heart and kidney for each animal. All organs were digested, mineralized and analyzed for copper and zinc using an Inductively Coupled Plasma – Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES). The copper concentrations found in different organs ranges from 1.42 to 22 ppm in cattle, 0.80 to 18.57 ppm in sheep, 1.10 to 14.22 ppm in camel and 0.78 to 4.65 ppm in equine. For zinc, the concentrations found ranges from 4.35 to 9.56 ppm in cattle, 3.30 to 8.73 ppm in sheep, 4.05 to 10.88 ppm in camel and 0.27 to 10.44 ppm in equine. Cattle in their organs accumulate the highest concentrations of copper compared to other species. The highest concentration of copper was observed in liver. The organs of cattle and camel are the richest in zinc in comparison with the sheep and equine. However, zinc accumulated mainly in the liver and skeletal muscle.