Toxic heavy metals in the muscle of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)—food toxicological significance

Abstract

The study was performed on 20 (10 males, 10 females) roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) to investigate the concentration of cadmium, lead, mercury, and arsenic in the muscle tissue. They reside in forest and meadow, about 50 km distance from industrial activities and traffic. Samples were taken from the musculus biceps femoris of each deer without external contamination after shooting during the regular hunting season on a hunting area close to Eger in Hungary. The determination of heavy metal contents was carried out by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The statistical analysis was performed by statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 11.0. The measured residue concentration of cadmium was below the limit of detection in the roe deer meat indicating no health risk for the consumers. The average lead concentration (0.48 ± 0.21 mg/kg wet weight) exceeded the regulated maximum limit, but its calculated weekly intake was below the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI). The residue level of mercury is not regulated and the average mercury content of roe deer meat (0.87 ± 0.40 mg/kg wet weight) was about half of PTWI, but the consumption of meat with the highest detected concentrations results in higher PTWI than recommended. The measured concentration of arsenic (0.27 ± 0.20 mg/kg wet weight) in the roe deer meat may not pose any health risk for the human consumers according to the PTWI set by the World Health Organization.

Can red deer antlers be used as an indicator of environmental and edible tissues’ trace element contamination?

“…The need to directly analyze trace elements in soft tissues therefore remains to quantitatively assess potential levels of exposure in humans through consumption of venison. Anthropogenic pollution, areas naturally enriched in toxic trace elements, as well as increasing consumption of venison should be reasons to reconsider EC regulations (Lehel et al 2016). Additionally, studies on Hg and As speciation are necessarily with regard to potential important implication for human health (Ropero et al 2016).…”

Consumer preferences for red deer meat: a discrete choice analysis considering attitudes towards wild game meat and hunting

“…All the most common large wild ungulates have been investigated in term of toxic metals residuals. For example, Lehel et al (2016) found that the consumption of Hungarian meat of roe deer may expose to very low concentration of lead and mercury, while no risk have been calculated for cadmium and arsenic. A second study underlines also that the threat for venison consumer is strictly related to the pollution of the areas where the animals reside (Durkalec et al, 2015).…”

Ecotype Variation in Trace Element Content of Hard Tissues in the European Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus)

“…In Europe, extensive ecotoxicological research has been conducted on cervids, which usually have wide geographical distribution and relatively long life-span (Sawicka-Kapusta 1979; Frank 1986; Tataruch and Kierdorf 2003). Also, their meat is a valuable and desired component of the human diet (Jarzyńska and Falandysz 2011), which has to comply with the World Health Organization standards for the content of heavy metal as pollutants (Lehel et al 2016). …”

“…For example, analysis of body fluids (e.g., serum, urine, or cerebrospinal fluid), which have the highest turnover rate, is only useful for evaluation of short-term exposure to pollutants, and thus, these tissues are rarely used in ecotoxicological research (Baroni et al 2000; Humann-Ziehank et al 2008; Žele and Vengušt 2012). In contrast, analysis of soft tissues and internal organs, especially liver and kidney, which accumulate toxic elements, can capture longer periods of exposure to contamination and these types of tissues have commonly been used in ecotoxicological monitoring of roe deer (Kryński et al 1982; Frank 1986; Babińska-Werka and Czarnowska 1988; Pokorny and Ribarič-Lasnik 2002; Pompe-Gotal and Prevendar-Crnić 2002; de Mendoza et al 2011; Srebočan et al 2011; Długaszek and Kopczyński 2013; Wieczorek-Dabrowska et al 2013; Durkalec et al 2015; Lehel et al 2016). Finally, hard tissues, such as bone or teeth, have the lowest turnover rates, and they are known to accumulate trace elements over years or decades (Glimcher 2006).…”