Concentrations of some toxicand trace elements in wildboar (Sus scrofa) organsand tissues in different areasof the Province of Viterbo,Central Italy

摘要

The aim of the present study was to determineheavy metal reference levels for exposure andrisk assessment studies on a local scale. Wemeasured lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), zinc (Zn),copper (Cu) and cadmium (Cd) content in edibletissues and organs of wild boars harvested in differentareas of the Province of Viterbo, CentralItaly. The average levels of cadmium recorded in75 wild boars were 0.085, 0.079 and 1.052 mg Cdkg~(-1) wet weight (w.w.) in the liver, muscle andkidney, respectively. The majority of the musclesamples and some of the liver samples containedlevels of heavy metal that were over the legallimit [EU Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs)] forpigs. Our data are similar to or lower than the valuesreported in most of the available literature.For Pb concentration, the average values recordedwere 0.318, 0.126 and 0.298 mg kg~(-1) w.w. in theliver, muscle and kidney, respectively. The samplesthat were non-compliant with regulatorylimits (MRLs) for pigs were registered only formuscle. Available data on the presence of Pb contentin game meat report lower values than ours,most likely because the area around the bulletpath was avoided while sampling. The averagevalues of total Cr were 0.141, 0.139 and 0.097 mgkg~(-1) w.w. in the liver, muscle and kidney, respectively.For Zn, the mean values were 49.76, 53.21and 32.46 mg kg~(-1) w.w. in the liver, muscle andkidney, respectively. Cu content was 46.12, 12.20and 5.64 mg Cu kg~(-1) w.w. in the liver, muscle andkidney, respectively. The results obtained havebeen validated on the basis of the scarce andinconsistent Italian literature available and oninternational studies.