ASSESSMENT OF HEAVY METAL CONCENTRATION IN POULTRY EGG AND MEAT SAMPLES COLLECTED FROM CHITTAGONG CITY

Abstract

The present study was carried out to determine the heavy metal concentration in poultry egg and meat samples. The egg and meat samples were collected from five layer and broiler farms in Chittagong. A total number of 25 samples for egg and 25 samples for meat were collected. Heavy metal generally found in environment through fossil fuels combustion and indiscriminate waste management. The selected heavy metal such as lead and chromium concentration was determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The mean concentration of lead and chromium in egg white and egg yolk were found 0.813-3.213 mg/kg, 1.050-4.702 mg/kg, 5.29-7.614 mg/kg and 3.326-6.808 mg/kg. Otherwise the mean concentration of lead and chromium in meat were 0.228-0.290 mg/kg and 0.048-0.112 mg/kg.The comparison between reference value with mean value of different farm for egg white showed that lead was significantly different in farm A and farm E (p<0.05) and lead was not significantly different in farm B, farm C and farm D (p>0.05).Otherwise chromium concentration was significantly different (p<0.05) in all farms.The result clearly indicate that for egg yolk lead was not significantly different (p>0.05) in all farms but chromium was not significantly different (p<0.05) in case of all farms except farm D (p<0.05).Otherwise the comparison indicates that for meat samples lead was not significantly different (p>0.05) in all farms except farm B (p<0.05) but chromium was significantly different (p<0.05) in case of all farms .In present study all samples of egg exhibit high concentration above tolerance limit which alarming but meat samples showed lower concentration than permissible limit which is safe to human health. For reducing alarming condition need regular examination of poultry egg before coming into the market.