Cadmium levels of edible offal from Saanen goat male kids

Abstract

Concentration of cadmium was investigated in the heart, tongue, lungs, spleen, liver, kidney, testis, brain and thymus of 15 Saanen goat male kids. This element was determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), after microwave digestion. The cadmium concentration was significantly influenced by the type of edible offal. Mean cadmium concentrations ranged from 0.018 mg/kg (heart) to 0.114 mg/kg (kidney). The maximum cadmium concentrations found in the kidney (0.133 mg/kg) and liver (0.075 mg/kg) were below maximum levels (1.0 and 0.5 mg/kg, respectively) set by legislation for these tissues.