Overview
This study measured nickel in 809 poultry, bovine, and pig muscle-meat samples collected under Italian official control from 2011 to 2023. It provides direct occurrence data for nickel in meat matrices and pairs those concentrations with an Italian dietary-exposure assessment.
Key numbers
Source units are mg/kg.
- Sample sizes: poultry n=156; beef n=306; pork n=347.
- Mean nickel concentrations: poultry 0.016; beef 0.010; pork 0.009.
- Medians: poultry 0.005; beef 0.006; pork 0.006.
- Standard deviations: poultry 0.057; beef 0.037; pork 0.015.
- Maximum values: poultry 0.583; beef 0.606; pork 0.158.
- Minimum values were below LOQ for all three meat matrices.
- The authors report that meat consumption contributed less than 1% of the EFSA nickel TDI across age groups; the highest contribution was 0.86% of TDI from pork in toddlers.
Methods
Nickel was measured in muscle meat with ICP-MS, using certified reference materials and descriptive statistics by meat matrix. Exposure was estimated with EFSA Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database intake rates.
Implications
The source supports nickel occurrence context for Italian poultry, beef, and pork. It is stronger for broad meat-category routing than for a specific infant-food row because the samples are general-market muscle meats, not prepared baby foods.
Related evidence
- Poultry (chicken, turkey, duck)
- Processed meats (sausage, deli meat, bacon, hot dogs)
- Chicken
- Beef
- Meat and poultry
- Nickel
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