The Levels of Zinc, Copper, Manganese, Selenium, Chromium, Nickel, Cobalt, and Aluminium in the Meat, Liver and Kidney of Swedish Pigs and Cattle

The levels of zinc, copper, manganese, selenium, chromium, nickel, cobalt, and aluminium were determined in samples of meat, liver and kidney from pigs and cattle from Swedish slaughterhouses. The results have been compared with those reported from other investigations carried out in recent years. For zinc, copper, manganese and selenium, the mean levels found in the different tissues were very similar to those reported in previous studies. The mean levels of chromium and nickel were found to be in the range less than 0.010-0.015 mg/kg, regardless of the type of tissue. Cobalt levels ranged from 0.001 to 0.043 mg/kg, the highest levels being in the liver samples. The mean levels of aluminium were between 0.024 and 0.068 mg/kg. Tissues from cattle contained approximately twice as much aluminium as tissues from pigs. Analytical quality assurance was carried out by analysing standard reference materials. A great effort was made to minimize and check contamination. This may partly explain the fact that the levels of chromium, nickel, and aluminium found in the present study are among the lowest reported.