Impact of environmental cadmium, lead, copper and zinc on quality of goat meat in Nigeria

This study evaluated the levels of cadmium, lead, copper and zinc in the muscles and edible offal’s of goat bred from Nigeria. The samples were digested with a 3:1 mixture of HCl and HNO3 and analysed with a Unicam Solar 32 AAS. The results obtained expressed in mgkg-1 showed that kidney had the highest mean concentration of 0.83 ranging from 0.07-3.08 for cadmium, 0.53 from nd-0.63 for lead; while liver had 134.02 ranging from 26.36-398.16 for copper and muscle 131.55 from nd-417.00 for zinc. Most of the samples studied were found to have these metals above the permissible limits set by some regulatory bodies. Pearson’s correlation analysis showed significant correlation (p < 0.01) between the metal levels in the heart and kidney, an indication of common source of contamination. The meat quality was found to be impaired by high levels of Zn, Cu and Cd and indicates widespread contamination of the environment by these trace metals. KEY WORDS: Heavy metals, Goat muscles, Edible offal’s, Environmental impact Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2010, 24(1), 133-138.