Evaluation of lead, calcium and iron in manually and mechanically deboned chicken meat to discover the type of chicken paste in meat products

Heavy metal contamination of foods is an issue of global concern. This study was conducted to determine the concentration of Lead, Calcium and Iron in chicken paste prepared by manual and mechanical methods. For this, in eight chicken were bought from the daily market and four samples deboned by hand and the other four chicken were minced completely. The concentration of the elements was performed through dry-ashing and flame atomic absorption spectroscopy. According to the results, the average amount of lead in the manual method was 2.94 mg/kg and the mechanical method was 3.79 mg/kg. The average amount of calcium by the manual and mechanical method was 65.78 and 275.83 mg/kg, respectively. In the case of iron, it was estimated as 4.21 and 23.05 mg/kg, respectively. A significant (p < 0.05) difference was observed between the average concentrations of lead, calcium, and iron achieved from manual and mechanical methods. The results revealed that the lead contents in all of the analyzed chicken paste samples and calcium content in mechanically deboned ones exceeded the approved limits set by International Codex and WHO (0.1 and 100 mg/kg). Moreover, the iron content in all of the samples was lower than the limit recommended by WHO/FAO. The concentration of these elements and their difference in the two chicken pastes can be used in discovering the type of chicken paste in meat products.