The assessment of cadmium content in the muscle, liver and kidneys of fattening pigs and sows was conducted in the Czech Republic during the period of 2015–2019. The samples were collected from a total of 32 sows and 210 fattening pigs. The mean cadmium content in the livers and kidneys of all sows was 0.102 ± 0.010 and 0.361 ± 0.032 mg·kg-1, respectively. The mean cadmium content in the livers and kidneys of all fattening pigs was 0.028 ± 0.001 and 0.141 ± 0.005 mg·kg-1, respectively. The maximum residual limit for human consumption was not exceeded in any sample. The cadmium content in the liver did not differ significantly between sows and fattening pigs in any particular year. In contrast, the cadmium content in kidneys differed significantly between sows and fattening pigs, being higher in sows (P < 0.05). No significant decreasing trend was observed for the cadmium content in tissues during the whole time period. It can be concluded that there is a need for further monitoring of the cadmium content in pig tissues in the Czech Republic.

The aim of this study was to re-evaluate the analytical results and time trends of the content of cadmium in muscle, liver, and kidney samples of young bovine animals and cows slaughtered in the Czech Republic during the years 1993-2010, and to estimate the total dietary exposure for the entire population aged 4-90 years and specifically, for children at the age of four to six years. Analyses showed that the arithmetic means of cadmium concentration in cow kidney and liver are higher than in young bovine (P < 0.0001), but not in muscle (P = 0.227). The mean cadmium concentration in cow kidney (0.595 mg·kg -1 ) was twice as high as in young bovine kidney (0.285 mg·kg ). The evaluation of time trends showed increasing concentrations of cadmium for cow (increasing slaughtering age) and young bovine kidney and decreasing concentrations for cow and young bovine muscle, but no significant change for liver. The estimated Cd burden of the entire population is worthy of attention (10% were over the tolerable dose of 2.5 μg·kg -1 body weight and week). For more than 50% of four to six-year-old children the burden exceeded the tolerable weekly intake. The contribution of food belonging to the group of meat and meat products, including cattle tissues, to usual cadmium exposure is only 5%. Nevertheless, the food safety recommendation is not to consume cow kidney as food.

The assessment of mercury content in the muscle, liver and kidneys of fattening pigs and sows was conducted in the Czech Republic during the period of 2015–2019. The samples were collected from sows (n = 31) and fattening pigs (n = 210). The average mercury content in muscle, liver, and kidneys of sows over 5 years was 0.00057 ± 0.00004, 0.0045 ± 0.0008, and 0.0224 ± 0.0067 mg·kg-1, respectively. The average mercury content in muscle, liver, and kidneys of fattening pigs over the same period was 0.00059 ± 0.00004, 0.0012 ± 0.0001, and 0.0044 ± 0.0004 mg·kg-1, respectively. The maximum residual limit (MRL) for human consumption was exceeded in 14 kidney samples. The mercury content in liver did not differ significantly between sows and fattening pigs; in kidneys, the mercury content was higher in sows, with a significant difference in one year (P < 0.05). A slight decrease in the mercury content in kidneys and liver was observed in fattening pigs from the year 2015. In sows, there was a significant increase in the mercury content in kidneys in the year 2016. It can be concluded that there is a need for further monitoring of the mercury content in pig tissues in the Czech Republic.

The aim of this paper was to evaluate the cadmium concentrations in the muscles, liver, and kidney of three age categories (≤ 8 months; ≤ 2 years; ≥ 2 years) of cattle during the period of years 2014–2019 and to determine the age limit at which the concentration of cadmium in an organ with the highest accumulation increases health risk for consumers. In cattle above two years of age, there was a higher average cadmium concentration in the liver (0.10 mg/kg) and kidney (0.62 mg/kg), when compared with cadmium concentration in the liver (0.06 mg/kg) and kidney (0.24 mg/kg) of cattle under two years of age. A paired correlation coefficient r = 0.825 8 (P &lt; 0.006) and Spearman’s coefficient ρ = 0.92 (P &lt; 0.000 1) were calculated for the dependence of the cadmium concentration on the age. The correlation analysis statistically demonstrated a significant positive correlation between the concentration of cadmium in the kidney and the age of the cattle. A non-significant difference between the maximum limit and the average concentration of the cadmium in the kidney of the cattle from the age of 6 years (P = 0.029) was demonstrated using the t-test. The cadmium concentration in the muscles was low and was not significantly affected by the cattle’s age.

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