# Potential Metal Contamination in Foods of Animal Origin--Food Safety Aspects
## 3 Current Regulatory Standards
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c} \hline \hline
**Foodstuffs** & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Maximum Levels (mg/kg Wet Weight)**} \\ \cline{2-4}  & **Lead** & **Cadmium** & **Mercury** \\ \hline Muscle meat of swordfish (_Xiphias gladius_) & - & 0.30 & 1.0 \\ Crustaceans, excluding brown meat of crab and excluding head and thorax meat & 0.50 & 0.50 & 0.50 \\ of lobster and similar large crustaceans (Nephropidae and Palinuridae) & 1.5 & 1.0 & - \\ Bivative mollus & 1.0 & 1.0 & - \\ Cephalopods (without viscera) & & 1.0 & 1.0 & - \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: _Cont._  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c} \hline \hline
**Foodstuffs** & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Maximum Levels (mg/kg Wet Weight)**} \\ \cline{2-4}  & **Lead** & **Cadmium** & **Mercury** \\ \hline Raw milk, heat-treated milk, and milk for the manufacture of & 0.02 & - & - \\ milk-based products & 0.10 & 0.05 & - \\ Metal of bovine animals and sheep & 0.20 & - & - \\ Offal of pig & 0.15 & - & - \\ Offal of poultry & 0.10 & - & - \\ Liver of bovine animals, sheep, pig, poultry, and horse & - & 0.50 & - \\ Kidney of bovine animals, sheep, pig, poultry, and horse & - & 1.00 & - \\ Horsemeat, except offal & - & 0.20 & - \\ Muscle meat of fish (general) except the listed species below & 0.30 & 0.05 & 0.50 \\ Muscle meat of the following fish: mackerel (_Somber_ sp. ), tuna & & \\ (_Thumus_ sp., _Katsuownus pedamis_, _Eutthymus_ sp. ), and bichique & - & 0.10 & - \\ (_Sicotyperus lagoccephalus_) & & - & 0.15 & - \\ Muscle meat of bullet tuna (_Auxis_ sp.) & & - & 0.25 & - \\ Muscle meat of the following fish: anchovy (_Engraulis_ sp. ), swordfish & & - & \\ (_Xiphias gladius_), and Sardine (_Sardina pilchardus_) & & & - \\ Muscle meat of the following fish: axillary seabream (_Pagellus acarne_), & & & \\ black scabbardfish (_Aphanopus carbo_), blackspot seabream & & & \\ (_Pagellus bogarave_), bonito (_Sarda sarda_), common pandora & & & \\ (_Pagellus erytlirinus_), escolar (_Lepidoptera flavouribusneum_), halibut & & & \\ (_Hippocampus_ sp. ), kingklip (_Genytterus capensis_), marlin (_Makaira_ sp. ), & & \\ megrim (_Lepidopteramonths_ sp. ), oilfish (_Rucutetts pretios_), orange roughy (_Hopolestestestus alattinetics_), pink cusk-eel (_Genytterus lasches_), pile (_Escar_ sp. ), plain bonito (_Orcymopsis unicolor_), poor cod (_Trisopterus_ sp. ), red mullet (_Mullus barhatus barhatus barhatus_), roundnose genradier (_Corphaneoides rupstris_), sail fish (_Istohorus_ sp. ), silver scabbardfish (_Lepidoptera caudatus_), snake mackerel (_Gemyylus serpens_), sturgeon (_Aciepenser_ sp. ), surmullet (_Mullus surmuletus_), tuna (_Thumus_ sp., _Eutthymus_ sp., _Katsuownus pelamis_), shark (all species), and swordfish (_Xiphias gladius_)Previously, the ML of Cd was 0.10 and 0.30 mg/kg depending on the fish species [133]. However, it was changed to 0.10-0.15-0.25 mg/kg in several fish species [134]. The previous ML of Hg was modified from 0.50-1.00 mg/kg to 0.30-0.50-1.00 mg/kg in different fish species (Tables 2 and 3) [133,134]. Basically, under the legal regulation, the regulated foods of animal origin include meat and offal of food-producing animals (bovine, sheep, swine, poultry, horse, fish, crustaceans, bivalve mollusks, cephalopods), as well as milk; however, for example, game meat and eggs are not included (Tables 2 and 3) [133,134]. There is a problem with this regulation. The uptake levels/concentrations of heavy metals and metalloids from feed and their maximum levels in the tissues/organs of food-producing animals can be regulated by official legal measures. These regulated maximum levels of heavy metals and metalloids are the same for wild animals used for human consumption (e.g., wild boar, deer species) as they are for domesticated animals ( ruminants, swine). However, the concentration of heavy metals and metalloids cannot be regulated in the natural nutrition sources of wild animals. Thus, their levels may be significantly higher in the tissues of wild animals than in domesticated species.