Arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury in meat, livers and kidneys of cattle slaughtered in The Netherlands during 1980-1985.

The results obtained between 1980 and 1985 in a Dutch monitoring programme investigating the presence of cadmium, lead, mercury and arsenic in meat, livers and kidneys of cattle are presented. During the period of investigation no clear trends were observed in the metal concentrations, except for lead in kidneys, for which the average concentration decreased from 0.48 mg/kg in 1980 to 0.24 mg/kg in 1985. The average cadmium and lead concentrations found in livers and kidneys in the present study were lower than those obtained for Dutch cattle investigated between 1970 and 1980. In general the metal concentrations found were in good agreement with data reported for other countries. The provisional Dutch legal limits for heavy metals in foods were exceeded only for cadmium in 2 kidney samples. Significant linear relations were found between the concentrations in livers and kidneys for arsenic, cadmium and lead. Significant relations were found also between the cadmium and lead concentrations in livers and between the cadmium levels in livers and kidneys and the age of the animals investigated.