Overview
Lasky and colleagues at USDA used National Residue Program monitoring results, almost all on liver tissue, to estimate mean total arsenic in young chickens and other slaughter species. Young-chicken liver averaged 0.39 ppm over 1994 to 2000, three to four times higher than other species. The authors then converted liver values to muscle using manufacturer ratios and assumed 65% inorganic arsenic to model intake.
Key numbers
- Young-chicken liver, 1994-2000 mean total arsenic: 0.39 ppm (Results text, p. 19).
- Annual means: 0.43 ppm in 1994 (95% CI 0.40 to 0.47), 0.33 ppm in 1999, 0.39 ppm in 2000 (Results text, p. 19).
- Mature chickens, turkeys, hogs and other species: annual means between 0.10 and 0.16 ppm (Results text, p. 19).
- Modeled inorganic arsenic intake at 60 g chicken per day: 1.38 to 5.24 µg/day (Table 3, derived).
Methods (brief)
Secondary analysis of 20,542 federal monitoring liver samples. Results below 0.20 ppm were set to 0.10 ppm before averaging. Laboratory methods, detection limits and quality control are not described. Muscle concentrations and inorganic fractions are assumptions, not measurements.
Evidence Fitness
Large national monitoring dataset, but the only measured matrix is liver, the means are heavily influenced by imputing non-quantifiable results, and the data predate the 2011 suspension of roxarsone. Muscle and inorganic arsenic values in the paper are modeled and should not be used as occurrence data. For the thin pages it was pulled for (chicken broth, meat-and-poultry), this is a chicken liver proxy only.