Lead Concentration in Meat and Meat Products of Different Origin

Meat is very rich and convenient source of nutrients including also a large extent of microelements. Contamination with heavy metals is a serious threat because of their toxicity, bioaccumulation and biomagnifications in the food chain. The lead concentrations depend on the environmental conditions and the food production methods. Ingestion of contaminants, especially heavy metals, by animals causes deposition of residues in meat. The aim of this study was to determine the levels of lead in the Malokarpatska and Lovecka salami during the technological processing with comparison to the raw materials originating from domestic and foreign production. Lead content was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. The starting materials in the Malokarpatska salami were found to contain the highest level of lead in the beef of foreign production (7.58 ppb), followed pork from foreign production (3.43 ppb), beef from domestic production (3.27 ppb), pork bacon from foreign production (2.41 ppb), pork from domestic production (1.63 ppb) and pork bacon from domestic production (1.57 ppb). The average concentration of lead was higher in homogenized samples with addition of additives and spices and ranged between 6.49 to 7.56 ppb. The lead concentration in final product Malokarpatska salami was in the range from 8.57 to 8.89 ppb. The highest mean Pb concentrations in the Lovecka salami in the starting materials were beef from foreign production, beef from domestic production, pork from foreign production, pork bacon from foreign production, pork from domestic production and pork bacon from domestic production (7.31, 3.77, 3.21, 2.40, 2.03, 1.97 ppb, respectively). Increasing concentration of lead was found after the addition of additives, spices and curing compounds causing a threefold increase in the concentration of lead in final products Lovecka and Malokarpatska salami. Technological process of meat processing can create a potential source of heavy metals in final products. Improvements in the food production and processing technology are increasing the chances of food contamination with various environmental pollutants, especially heavy metals.