Descriptive Analysis of Heavy Metals Content of Beef From Eastern Uganda and Their Safety for Public Consumption.

In this study, we initiated an effort to generate information about beef safety in Uganda. Our entry point was to assess the levels of essential elements copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn), and non-essential elements lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), and cadmium (Cd) in 40 beef samples collected from within and around Soroti (Uganda) by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The information was then used to evaluate the safety of consuming such beef in this model community against the World Health Organization (WHO) limits. The latter was accomplished by (i) estimating the daily intake (EDI) of each metal in the study area, (ii) modelling the non-cancer health risk using the target hazard quotient (THQ) and (iii) modelling the cancer risk using the incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR). The study finds that the mean concentrations (± 95% CI) and EDI were in the order of Fe > Zn > Cr > Ni > Pb > Co > Cu > Cd. Cancer risk was found to be due to Ni > Cr > Cd > Pb and significantly higher in children than adults. The latter particularly demonstrates the importance of Ni poisoning in the study area. Overall, while essential elements were below WHO limits (hence no health risks) in our beef samples, non-essential elements had high health and cancer risks due to higher levels of Cr and Ni.