Residues of some Toxic Heavy Metals and Trace Elements in Chicken Eggs

Document Type : Original Article

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Educational Veterinary Hospital, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, 44511, Egypt

Abstract

Presence of residues of heavy metals and trace elements in chicken eggs represent chemical hazards from the point of view of both Food safety sector due to consumption of contaminated eggs and poultry medicine sector due to the possible harmful effects of metals on chicken embryos, embryonic deaths, in particular. The objective of this study was to estimate the residual concentrations of the toxic metals (lead, cadmium, arsenic and nickel) and trace elements (zinc and copper) in three kinds of chicken eggs. The examined chicken eggs included balady (produced from free-range house fed chickens), commercial eggs, produced from laying hens fed on commercial ration and organic eggs produced from laying hens fed on organic based ration. A total of 60 fresh egg samples were collected randomly from (20, each) during the period from June to October 2016 Sharkia Governorate, Egypt. The achieved results declared that balady chicken eggs had the highest load of all metals examined followed by commercial and finally organic eggs. The residual concentrations of all examined metals exceeded the maximum permissible limits set by Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)/ World Health Organization (WHO), especially in the balady {Pb (0.34± 0.03); Cd (0.18 ± 0.02);As (0.14 ± 0.017); Zn (23.17 ± 0.88); Ni (1.31 ± 0.08), and Cu (11.47 ± 0.66)}, followed by commercial then organic eggs. High metal concentrations in chicken eggs represent major hazards on both human and chicken embryos that might lead to sever toxicological implications. The adverse outcomes of the examined metals on both human and chicken embryos were discussed.

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