Overview
Chowdhury and colleagues analyzed ham, salami, sausages and nuggets made at a government meat plant in West Bengal for composition, fatty acids, sensory quality and five metals. Lead, arsenic and tin were below the detectable level in all four products. Copper and zinc were quantified.
Key numbers
- Lead, arsenic and tin: “BDL” in ham, salami, sausage and nuggets (Table 1, p. 41).
- Zinc: 12.70 mg/100 g in salami and 5.59 mg/100 g in nuggets (Table 1).
- Copper: 0.74 to 0.97 mg/100 g across the four products (Table 1).
Methods (brief)
Products were prepared at the plant by curing, mincing, smoking and steam cooking, then vacuum packed and frozen. Metals were determined by the Hall (1997) method with modifications; the instrument and detection limits are not given. Results are mean plus or minus standard error in mg/100 g.
Evidence Fitness
The PDF prints received and accepted dates, but peer review is unverified. The number of samples is not stated, no detection limit is given, so the non-detects cannot be bounded, and the products come from one plant rather than retail. These are processed pork products, not pork chops: the paper is a proxy for pork-chop, which is not linked.