IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2015) 6-2

Research article
erd

Heavy Metal Contamination in Meat and Crustaceans
Products from Thailand Local Markets
MONTIP JANKEAW
Environmental Science Program, Faculty of Science and Technology, Valaya Alongkorn Rajabhat
University under the Royal Patronage, Thailand
Email: montip_06@hotmail.com

NATAGARN TONGPHANPHARN
Environmental Science Program, Faculty of Science and Technology, Valaya Alongkorn Rajabhat
University under the Royal Patronage, Thailand

RATTANAPON KHOMRAT
Environmental Science Program, Faculty of Science and Technology, Valaya Alongkorn Rajabhat
University under the Royal Patronage, ThailandCHULEEMAS BOONTHAI IWAI
Integrated Water Resource Management Research and Development Center in Northeast Thailand,
Khon Kaen University, Thailand

NISA PAKVILAI*
Environmental Science Program, Faculty of Science and Technology, Valaya Alongkorn Rajabhat
University under the Royal Patronage, Thailand
Email: pakviali_n@hotmail.com
Received 23 February 2015

Accepted 30 October 2015(*Corresponding Author)

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate heavy metal contaminations (cadmium,chromium, and lead) in meat and crustaceans products from three markets of Pathumthani
province, Thailand. Heavy metals from beef, pork, chicken, scallop, and prawn were analyzed
by using ICP-OES. The results showed that the heavy metal concentrations ranges found inmeat and crustaceans’ products were 0.002-0.032 mg/kg for cadmium, 0.003-0.040 mg/kg forchromium, and 0.006-0.200 mg/kg for lead. The levels of heavy metal contamination in all
products are still below the food safety standard of Thailand. The maximum levels of metals inmeat and crustaceans products were found as follows: lead > chromium > cadmium, in the threemarkets. The results of this study provide valuable information to livestock and aquaculture
production for food-safety products, and for protection of human health.
Keywords heavy metals, meat and crustaceans products, local markets, food safety

INTRODUCTION
Human diet, meat, fish, and crustacean’s products provide well-known proteins, minerals, vitamins,
and trace element contents. Concerning about the effects of anthropogenic pollution, and heavy metal
contamination, it is a serious threat because of the toxicity, bioaccumulation, and biomagnification infood chain (Eisler, 1998). Not only do heavy metals have important positive roles in human life, butalso there are negative roles as well. Some of the heavy metals are considered essential, and theseinclude iron, zinc, and copper, while some other metals such as mercury, cadmium, lead, and arsenic
have toxic roles in biochemical reactions of our body (Divrikli et al., 2006). Non-essential elementsⒸISERD153

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2015) 6-2

such as Pb, Cd, Cr, Ni considered as toxic and their presence in the body can cause profoundbiochemical and neurological changes in the body (Nielsen, 1982). All metals are toxic at certain levels
of intake, however, in contrast to elements such as arsenic chromium, copper, selenium, and zinc thathave useful biological functions, cadmium, lead, and mercury play no useful role and their intake
should be limited to avoid organ damage (Parekhan et al., 2014; Kramer et al., 1983).
In recent years, there are several studies that focus on the contamination of heavy metals, pesticide,and other toxic in raw food and environment (Iwegbue et al., 2008; Khalafalla et al., 2011; Pakvilai etal., 2012; Hussain et al., 2012; Aitbek, 2013). Samples of beef, veal, pork, chicken, and horsemeat
were analyzed for Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni, Zn, Cd, and Pb by Hecht and Kumpulainen (1995).
Furthermore, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cd, Hg, and Pb concentrations were determined in liver, kidney, and muscle
meat of ducks, geese, chicken, rabbits, and sheep slaughtered in northern of Poland (Falandysz, 1991).
Under certain environmental conditions, heavy metals might accumulate up to toxic concentrations.
Thus, heavy metals acquired through the food chain, as a result of pollution, are potential chemicalhazards threatening consumers.
The aim of this study was to assess heavy metal contamination, including Cd, Cr and Pb
concentrations, in meat and crustaceans products from local markets in Pathumthani province,
Thailand. Moreover, the data were assessed by comparing with the food safety standard of Thailand.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this work was to investigate heavy metal contaminations in meat products which werepurchased from three local markets in Pathumthani province, Thailand.
METHODOLOGY
Sample Collection
A total of 45 samples of meat and crustaceans products (beef, pork, chicken, scallop, and prawn) werecollected randomly from local markets in Pathumthani province. At each location, meat samples werecollected from three different local markets to provide replicate samples of each meat. According totheir types, all collected samples were stored in clean polythene bags and brought to the laboratory for
preparation and treatment. All samples were stored at -10oC until analysis (Parekhan et al., 2014).
Sample Preparation
Before being analyzed, meat and crustaceans products samples were put outside to melt at a room’stemperature. All samples were washed with distilled water to remove any contaminated particles. Thensamples were chopped to small pieces using a ceramic knife, thoroughly mixed; weight 1-gram of meat
was placed in a test tube for the analysis. The meat was later digested by 5 ml concentration nitric acid(69%) in a water bath at 80oC for 15 minutes and cooled down to room temperature; the samples weredried in an oven at 135oC and cooled down to room temperature. One milliliter of Hydrogen peroxideacid (30%) was added and then filtered the supernatant using No.1 and No.48 filter paper.
The complete volume of the final solution was 50 mL in volumetric flask, and the determination ofheavy metal was conducted using an Inductively Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectrometer(ICP-OES) ULTIMA2, HORIBA scientific, FRANCE. The samples were analyzed in triplicated. A
statistic using scientific program was used to calculate standard deviation and meanvalues. Linear
regression equations and regression coefficients (R2) of standard are presented in Fig 1.

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IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2015) 6-2(a)(b)(c)Fig. 1 Calibration curve for determination of (a) cadmium (b) chromium (c) Lead
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The result for determination of the heavy metal residues in wet weight are shown in Table 1. Meat andcrustaceans products residue samples shown in Table 1 representing the heavy metals ranged from 33
to 100% of samples analysis while the samples were detected 100% of chromium and lead. Cadmium
found 33 % in pork, 44 % in scallop and prawn, and 56% in beef, respectively.
Table 1 Positive percentage of heavy metal residues in meat product samples
Meat and crustaceans products

CdCrPbBeef (n=9)

56

100

100

Pork (n=9)

33

100

100Chicken (n=9)

nd100

100

Scallop (n=9)

44

100

100

Prawn (n=9)

44

100

100

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IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2015) 6-2

The result of the study showed that 33-100% of Cd, Cr, and Pb concentrations were found in allmeat products, Cd concentration was not found in chicken. Although, their concentrations are below
the food safety standard of Thailand, heavy metals can be harmful due to their potential to accumulate
in different parts of human body. Even in low concentrations, they can cause adverse health effects(Ikeda et al., 2000). Cadmium may accumulate in the human body and may induce kidney dysfunction,skeletal damage, and reproductive deficiencies (Commission of European Communities, 2001). Lead isknown to induce reduced cognitive development and intellectual performance in children, andincreased blood pressure and cardiovascular disease in adults (Commission of European Communities,2001). Chromium is an essential element helping body to use sugar, proteins, and fat; at the same time
it is carcinogenic for organisms, thus excessive amount of Cr may cause adverse health effects(Parekhan et al., 2014).
Table 2 Mean concentration and standard deviation of heavy metal in meat and crustaceans
products samples (mg/kg)
Meat and crustaceans products

CdCrPbBeef (n=9)

0.024±0.018

0.020±0.010

0.040±0.049

Pork (n=9)

0.008±0.004

0.019±0.009

0.032±0.034

Chicken (n=9)

nd0.015±0.008

0.032±0.018

Scallop (n=9)

0.004±0.003

0.018±0.007

0.167±0.096

Prawn (n=9)

0.009±0.006

0.029±0.014

0.100±0.091

In Table 2, the results are presented as mean concentrations of a triplicate analysis of the sample
extracted. The Cd concentrations ranged from 0.004±0.003 to 0.024±0.018 mg/kg. Among the analysisof meat and crustacean product, the highest Cd level was found in beef sample at 0.024±0.018 mg/kg
but not found in chicken. The Cd concentration followed the order: beef > prawn > pork > scallop. The
study of Rahimi (2013) determined the Cd concentrations in goat, cow, sheep, and buffalo milks
collected from different regions in Iran. The study reported the amount of 0.74 ng/mL. Another studyof Pimonwan (2009) reported that the Cd concentration in seafood from Maung district, Rayong
province ranged from 0.009 to 0.31 mg/kg. But in comparison of a maximum Cd content of 0.05-0.1
mg/kg of the European Union (2008), the Cd content of this study was exceeded the standard
allowance. In general, Hech (1983) stated that Cd concentrations in meat increased with the age ofanimal and depended on the concentrations of Cd in the feed.
According to analyzed data presented in Table 2, the results ranged from 0.015±0.008 to0.029±0.014 mg/kg of Cr concentration. Prawn was found the highest Cr level at 0.029±0.014 mg/kg,
while the Cr concentrations of other products were prawn > beef > pork > scallop > chicken. The Crvalues of the study were below those reported of Kwon and Lee (1999) at 0.18 to 0.25 µg/g of fishtissue in Masan Bay, Korea. Although, Cr3+ is an essential element that helps the body use sugar,
proteins, and fat; at the same time Cr6+ is carcinogenic for organisms (Institute of Medicine, 2003).
Lead is a toxic element that has no biological role and cause carcinogenic effects in marine biotaand humans. From the present study, Pb concentration had the highest concentration in the samples ascompared to the other elements. The Pb concentration in meat and crustaceans products ranged from
0.032±0.018 to 0.167±0.096 mg/kg. Scallop was found to have the highest Pb value at 0.167±0.096
mg/kg. The concentrations of Pb for other products were scallop > prawn > beef > pork, and chicken.
The Pb concentration in scallop (0.167±0.096 mg/kg) was similar to the study of Sankar et al. (2006),
which reported that Pb value of J. dussumerri was at 0.13 mg/kg. In addition, the study of Sivaperumal
et al. (2007) recorded 25% of Pb concentrations in finfish, shellfish, and other fishery products fromthe EU’s Indian coast. However, the EU’s acceptable limit for Pb concentration is 0.5-1.0 µg/g. The PbⒸISERD156

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2015) 6-2

concentrations of this study were found to be lower than the acceptable limit suggested by theEuropean Union (2008).
0.25
Beef

concentration (ppm)

0.2

PorkChicken

0.15

Scallop0.1

shrimp

0.05
0

Cd

Cr
Market 1

Pb

CdCr
Market 2

Pb

CdCrPbMarket 3

Fig. 2 Comparison of heavy metal residues in meat samples
Fig. 2 shows of the heavy metal comparison by type and market location. Lead presents a higher
concentration than another compound in scallop of market 1 and 3, and prawn in market 1. Within
prawn samples, it was found higher chromium in markets 1 and 3 than in market 2. Market 3 wasfound to have higher chromium than other markets except in prawn from market 1. From the study, thePb levels of all samples were higher than other heavy metals trace. The result of this study indicatedthat the problem of Pb in food is more widespread.
CONCLUSION
The levels of heavy metal contaminations in meat and crustacean’s products from Thailand local
markets were determined and assessed by comparing contamination levels with permissible limits ofthe food safety standard of Thailand. However, all the heavy metal levels of this study were below theallowance of the food safety standard of Thailand. It is necessary to assess human exposure to thesevital metals through food consumption, as human is one of the top most consumers in the ecosystem.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful to Miss Sureerat Phonmasri for her assistance in sample collection and work inlaboratory for ICP-OES analysis Integrated Water Resource Management Research and Development
Center in Northeast Thailand, Khon Kaen University, Thailand.
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