Zero Hunger (SDG 2), Good Health & Well-being (SDG 3)
The evaluation of Arsenic (total and inorganic) in poultry and poultry products consumed in Trinidad and Tobago
Jenna-Marie Thongs* UWI, Trinidad and Tobago
Arsenic is an established human carcinogen but can initiate several non-carcinogenic health effects. The Food and Agricultural Organization ( FAO), considers the population of Trinidad and Tobago to be among the largest consumers of chicken in the world, amounting to 63.7 Kg per capita. Additionally, statistics accumulated in 2019, revealed that Trinidad and Tobago ranks second for the highest consumption of chicken in the Caribbean on a per capita basis and fourth in the world, among 180 countries assessed. Although the population of Trinidad and Tobago consumes a large amount of chicken, the issue of arsenic residues in chicken tissue has not been previously addressed. Chicken samples from private poultry depots, commercial poultry producers both local and imported, organic locally sourced chicken and processed chicken products both local and imported, were analyzed for total arsenic (tAs) and inorganic arsenic (iAs). All commercially processed local chickens (0.08–2.72 μg/kg/day), imported commercially processed chicken (0.03–2.76 μg/kg/day), private poultry depots (0.94–4.91 μg/kg/day), exceeded the USEPA’s reference daily dose (RfD) for iAs of 0.03 μg/kg. Local and imported processed chicken products ranged from (0.03–0.88 µg/kg/day). Most samples exceeded the 500 μg/kg maximum limit for total arsenic (tAs) in chicken muscle tissue, as recommended by the FDA except for; two of the imported commercially processed chicken samples (US1B = 15.71 μg/kg and US1T = 29.34 μg/kg), locally produced chicken thighs and breast in TT12 samples (49.92–213.66 μg/kg) and US origin-processed poultry products (15.97–72.72 μg/kg). All organic chickens contained total arsenic (tAs) levels below the US FDA limit and an EDI within the RfD for iAs (0.01-0.03 μg/kg/day). The levels of total arsenic (tAs) and inorganic arsenic (iAs) determined in this study indicate that the use of arsenical supplementation by both the local and international farmers is common and could have very damaging health effects to populations such as Trinidad and Tobago, where chicken consumption per capita is very high.
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© The Author(s), 2023
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