Determination of nitrite and heavy metals content in meat and its products

The improvement of living standards has a significant impact on food and food production. Meat and meat products, due to their high nutritional value, are an important segment of human nutrition and a rich source of elements such as Fe, Zn, Mn, Ca, K, Mg. On the other hand, meat can accumulate heavy metals such as Cd and Pb. Toxic metal concentrations in the muscles are rare, but the liver and kidneys have an ability of accumulation. Nitrites are very important in the meat industry as additives and preservatives, but downside effects of nitrite addition are the development of toxic and carcinogenic nitrosoamine. In monitoring the quality of meat and meat products, it is important to keep track of metal content, but also the residual concentration of nitrite. The aim of this study was to determine the content of Cd, Cu, Fe, and Zn in samples of pork and beef meat and pig liver and the content of nitrites in samples of pork and beef meat and meat products - patches and sausages. Metals were determined using the ICP-AES method and nitrate by the standard method SRPS ISO 2918/1999. The content of iron in the liver, pork and beef meat is 189.2 μg / kg, 89.78 μg / kg and 87.79 μg / kg respectively. The content of Cu and Zn in all tested samples is below MAC values, and Cd in pork meat sample is 1.2 times more than MAC values. The content of nitrite is below the MAC values and represents the residual concentration of these compounds.