Monitoring heavy metal residues in domesticated and game birds' meat from Damietta Governorate, Egypt

Abstract

Concerns about potential health risks have made heavy metal contamination in food a prominent issue. The primary route of human exposure to metals is through food consumption. Hence, the objective of this study was to assess metal concentrations in game bird meat and calculate daily intake and associated health risks. An ICP-OES was employed to measure the levels of mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), magnesium (Mn), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), and iron (Fe). The study's results indicated that As, Zn, and Fe were present at relatively high levels in the studied groups, while Co, Hg, Cr, and Cd had comparatively lower mean concentrations. Among the detected heavy metals, there were no statistically significant differences between the three studied groups, except for Cr, Co, and Zn, which exhibited statistically significant variations. Most quails and pigeons stayed within the designated permissible limits (PL) for Hg, while sparrows exceeded these limits. Both quails and sparrows also exceeded the PL for Pb, whereas pigeons remained within it. In the case of Zn, Cu, and Co, the majority of the three species adhered to the PL, while they exceeded the PL for As. However, all three species remained within the PL for Cd and Cr. Despite the Hazard Quotients (HQs) for the tested heavy metals, with the exception of As, Fe, and Zn, not exceeding 1, this suggests that consuming game bird meat is unlikely to significantly elevate the risk of human exposure to these specific metals, indicating a lower potential health hazard.Top of Form