Heavy metals in Chicken

Chicken overview

Chicken in the HMI library has 1,994 reported results for lead, cadmium, total arsenic, inorganic arsenic, dimethylarsinic acid, total mercury, methylmercury, nickel, chromium, aluminium, tin, antimony, uranium, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, V, Se, Ag, As_extractable, As_nonextractable, AsIII, AsV, B, Ba, Be, Bi, Ca, CrIII, CrVI, I, K, Li, Mg, Mo, Na, P, REE_sum, Roxarsone, Si, Sr, Tl and Unknown As species from 61 sources.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →2U.S. Food and Drug Administration · 2022FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical ResultsFDA Total Diet StudyRead source →3Unknown authors · 2021Keywords: Meat, Heavy metal, Toxic elements, Health risk, Exposure assessmentPeer-reviewed articleRead source →4Chowdhury AI, Alam MR · 2024Health effects of heavy metals in meat and poultry consumption in Noakhali, BangladeshToxicology Reports 12 (2024) 168-177Read source →5Hashem WE, Abdaljaleel RA · 2024Influence of Cooking by Boiling on Lead and Cadmium in Meat and Liver of ChickensThe Iraqi Journal of Veterinary Medicine 48(2):32-37Read source →6Henríquez-Hernández LA, Acosta-Dacal AC, Boada LD, Zumbado M, Serra-Majem L, Luzardo OP · 2023Concentration of Essential, Toxic, and Rare Earth Elements in Ready-to-Eat Baby Purees from the Spanish MarketNutrients 15(14):3251Read source →} WHO GEMS/Food submissions reported lead in chicken, as sold from 7,752 results in 3 reporting regions, with subgroup medians from 7.3 to 448 µg/kg.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →} In the US Total Diet Study, chicken, cooked had a median lead result below 4 µg/kg across 27 composites from 2017–2020.^{2U.S. Food and Drug Administration · 2022FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical ResultsFDA Total Diet StudyRead source →}

Across 11 other studies of ordinary farms and markets, reported lead means and medians on an as-sold or fresh-weight basis ranged from 2 µg/kg (Spungen et al. 2024) to 7,540 µg/kg (Chowdhury et al. 2024).^{4Chowdhury AI, Alam MR · 2024Health effects of heavy metals in meat and poultry consumption in Noakhali, BangladeshToxicology Reports 12 (2024) 168-177Read source →8Spungen JH, et al. · 2024Infants’ and young children’s dietary exposures to lead and cadmium: FDA total diet study 2018-2020Food Additives & Contaminants: Part ARead source →} For cadmium, 12 studies on an as-sold or fresh-weight basis reported means and medians from 0.3 µg/kg (Mathaiyan et al. 2021) to 400 µg/kg (Chowdhury et al. 2024).^{4Chowdhury AI, Alam MR · 2024Health effects of heavy metals in meat and poultry consumption in Noakhali, BangladeshToxicology Reports 12 (2024) 168-177Read source →9Mathaiyan M, Natarajan A, Rajarathinam X, Rajeshkumar S · 2021Assessment of Pb, Cd, As and Hg concentration in edible parts of broiler in major metropolitan cities of Tamil Nadu, IndiaToxicology Reports 8 (2021) 668-675Read source →} Higher results came from contaminated or exposed settings rather than ordinary supply. Chicken, as sold from conventional factory feed, floor housing (1st control group) (experiment) had lead higher at 24.7 µg/kg, against 3.53 µg/kg for conventional factory feed, cage housing (2nd control group) in the same study.^{10Lysenko Y, Koshchayev A, Luneva A, Omarov R, Shlykov S · 2021Organic Meat Production of Broiler Chickens Hubbard Redbro CrossInternational Journal of Veterinary Science 10(1):62-68Read source →}

For a buyer the practical points are the form bought, the basis a result is reported on, where the chicken came from and the laboratory’s reporting limit. Testing finds contamination but does not remove it.

What counts as chicken

This page covers chicken in 6 forms kept separate in every comparison: chicken, as sold (1,726 results), chicken, cooked (153 results), chicken, frozen (54 results), chicken, canned (37 results), chicken, powder or ground (20 results) and chicken, peeled or flesh (4 results).^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →2U.S. Food and Drug Administration · 2022FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical ResultsFDA Total Diet StudyRead source →3Unknown authors · 2021Keywords: Meat, Heavy metal, Toxic elements, Health risk, Exposure assessmentPeer-reviewed articleRead source →4Chowdhury AI, Alam MR · 2024Health effects of heavy metals in meat and poultry consumption in Noakhali, BangladeshToxicology Reports 12 (2024) 168-177Read source →5Hashem WE, Abdaljaleel RA · 2024Influence of Cooking by Boiling on Lead and Cadmium in Meat and Liver of ChickensThe Iraqi Journal of Veterinary Medicine 48(2):32-37Read source →6Henríquez-Hernández LA, Acosta-Dacal AC, Boada LD, Zumbado M, Serra-Majem L, Luzardo OP · 2023Concentration of Essential, Toxic, and Rare Earth Elements in Ready-to-Eat Baby Purees from the Spanish MarketNutrients 15(14):3251Read source →} Foods made from chicken that have their own pages, such as chicken broth, chicken noodle soup, chicken nuggets and chicken potpie, are covered there.

Results stay on the basis each source reports: as sold or fresh weight, dry weight, or unstated. Dry-weight, as-sold and unstated results are never pooled, and no moisture conversion is applied.

Heavy metal contamination profile of chicken

The table holds every extracted chicken result: one row for each statistic a source reports for a form, group and metal, 1,994 rows in all, grouped by metal and form; percentiles, ranges and maxima for the same samples as a mean or median are shown on that row.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →2U.S. Food and Drug Administration · 2022FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical ResultsFDA Total Diet StudyRead source →3Unknown authors · 2021Keywords: Meat, Heavy metal, Toxic elements, Health risk, Exposure assessmentPeer-reviewed articleRead source →4Chowdhury AI, Alam MR · 2024Health effects of heavy metals in meat and poultry consumption in Noakhali, BangladeshToxicology Reports 12 (2024) 168-177Read source →5Hashem WE, Abdaljaleel RA · 2024Influence of Cooking by Boiling on Lead and Cadmium in Meat and Liver of ChickensThe Iraqi Journal of Veterinary Medicine 48(2):32-37Read source →6Henríquez-Hernández LA, Acosta-Dacal AC, Boada LD, Zumbado M, Serra-Majem L, Luzardo OP · 2023Concentration of Essential, Toxic, and Rare Earth Elements in Ready-to-Eat Baby Purees from the Spanish MarketNutrients 15(14):3251Read source →} Monitoring medians are HMI calculations from individual submissions; non-detects remain intervals between zero and the reporting limit and are never read as zero.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →}

293 rows can be rated against an HMI reference for the same form and basis, 456 rows have a direct same-study comparison, and the rest stay unrated with the reason recorded. 167 values from 18 sources failed a check against their own source and are shown but not compared.^{3Unknown authors · 2021Keywords: Meat, Heavy metal, Toxic elements, Health risk, Exposure assessmentPeer-reviewed articleRead source →5Hashem WE, Abdaljaleel RA · 2024Influence of Cooking by Boiling on Lead and Cadmium in Meat and Liver of ChickensThe Iraqi Journal of Veterinary Medicine 48(2):32-37Read source →7Igwemmar NC, Kakulu SE · 2022Content of Heavy Metals in Poultry and Local (Free Range) Chickens raised within Gwagwalada Area Council of Abuja, NigeriaCognizance Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, Vol. 2, Issue 9, September 2022, pp. 43-57Read source →11R. Jayanthi, V. Appa Rao, R. Narendra Babu, T. Sivakumar, P. Sriram, Robinson J. J. Abraham · 2019Assessment of non-essential heavy metals in ready-to-eat chicken meat products of Chennai cityInternational Journal of Chemical StudiesRead source →12Hossain E, Nesha M, Chowdhury MAZ, Rahman SH · 2023Human health risk assessment of edible body parts of chicken through heavy metals and trace elements quantitative analysisPLoS ONERead source →13Al-Subeihi AAA · 2022Human health risk assessment of some important trace elements in boneless whole chicken meatF1000Research 2022, 11:276 (version 1; peer review: 2 approved with reservations)Read source →14Adilbekov Z, Mustafina R, Suleimenov S, Serikova A, Zhuzzassarova G, Suranshiyev Z, Bainiyazov A · 2026Technogenic contamination of livestock- and fish-derived food products with heavy metals and radionuclides in industrial and post-nuclear regions of KazakhstanVeterinary World 2026, 19(3): 1052-1068Read source →15Pappuswamy M, Meyyazhagan A, Balasubramanian B, Kuchi Bhotla H, Pushparaj K, Easwaran M, Arumugam VA, Periyaswamy T, Dhandapani K · 2021Carcinogens in Food: Evaluating the Presence of Cadmium, Lead, in Poultry Meat in South IndiaAsian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 22(11):3507-3511Read source →16Safwan MF, Amayreh MA · 2023Assessment and health risk study of some heavy metals in instant soup and chicken stock products from Jordanian marketAfrican Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and DevelopmentRead source →17Gholami-Ahangaran Majid, Ahmadi-Dastgerdi Asiye, Azizi Shahrzad · 2021The Measurement of Cadmium, Zinc and Silver in Chicken Meat in Isfahan Province, IranIranian Journal of ToxicologyRead source →18Ogu GI, Akinnibosun FI · 2020HEALTH RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH HEAVY METALS IN COMMERCIAL CHICKEN MEAT VIA CONSUMPTION WITHIN SOUTHERN NIGERIAAfrican Journal of Health, Safety and Environment 1(1):22-37Read source →19Liang G, Gong W, Li B, Zuo J, Pan L, Liu X · 2019Analysis of Heavy Metals in Foodstuffs and an Assessment of the Health Risks to the General Public via Consumption in Beijing, ChinaInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public HealthRead source →20A.E. Morshdy, R.E. Yousef, A.E. Tharwat, M.A. Hussein · 2023Risks assessment of toxic metals in canned meat and chickenFood ResearchRead source →21Loutfy N, Mentler A, Shoeab M, Ahmed MT, Fuerhacker M · 2012Analysis and exposure assessment of some heavy metals in foodstuffs from Ismailia city, EgyptToxicological & Environmental ChemistryRead source →22Razanov SF, Hutsol GV, Posternak LI, Kovaleva SP · 2019Effect of silicon and mineral extract on heavy metals balance and accumulation rate in the muscle tissue of poultryUkrainian Journal of Ecology 9(4):742-748Read source →23Okolo JC, Igborgbor JC, Anana UE, Ogu GI · 2022Chemical and microbiological quality of commercial fresh and frozen chicken drumstick in Umuhia, NigeriaInternational Journal of Food, Agriculture, and Natural ResourcesRead source →24Alvarez JM, Mohammed TI · 2026Speciation of arsenic in chicken thigh and breast meat using solvent extraction and selective reduction HG-AASMethodsX 16 (2026) 103937Read source →25Mahmud T, Rehman R, Ali S, Anwar J, Abbas A, Farooq M, Ali A · 2011Estimation of Chromium (VI) in various body parts of Local ChickenJournal of the Chemical Society of PakistanRead source →}