Heavy metal residues of chicken meat and gizzard and turkey meat consumed in southern Nigeria.

The concentrations of iron (Fe), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), manganese (Mn), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and chromium (Cr) in chicken meat, chicken gizzard and turkey meat consumed in southern Nigeria were determined after nitric acid/perchloric acid digestion using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The order of the elements in the chicken meat, chicken gizzard and turkey meat was as followed: Fe>Zn>Ni>Cu>Cr>Pb>Cd>Mn. The concentration ranges of the elements were: 23.59–97.72 mg.kg -1 Fe; 0.01–5.15 mg.kg -1 Cu; 4.95–48.23 mg.kg -1 Zn; 0.13–7.93 mg.kg -1 Ni; 0.01–1.37 mg.kg -1 Mn; 0.01–5.68 mg.kg -1 Cd; 0.01–4.60 mg.kg -1 Pb and 0.01–3.43 mg.kg -1 Cr. The concentrations of iron, manganese, copper, zinc were below the permissible limits while those of cadmium, nickel, chromium and lead in some samples were at levels above the permissible limits. The body burden with these elements is very dependent on the concentration of the various elements in major sources of animal protein, namely turkey meat, chicken meat and gizzard, the frequency of consumption of these foods and the rate of detoxification in the human body.