Nantia and colleagues review the chemical exposome associated with traditional meat processing practices in Africa, integrating polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, heterocyclic amines, N-nitroso compounds, and heavy metals, with a focus on cancer risk. The heavy-metal component (Section 4.3.4, Table 3) is a secondary topic within a broader review. The authors synthesize published measurements from studies of singed and smoked meats in West and Central Africa where tire rubber, plastic waste, and biomass combustion are used as fuel sources; these extreme exposures are not representative of industrially canned meat. The primary utility of this review for the wiki is context on the environmental co-exposure pathway for lead and cadmium in traditional African processed meat — not as direct evidence for commercial canned meat contamination profiles.
Key numbers
Heavy-metal concentrations reported in Table 3 of the review are drawn from published primary studies on singed or smoked meats prepared with contaminated fuel sources in West and Central Africa.
Lead (Pb): range 2.7 to 43.7 mg/kg in singed beef from Ghana and Nigeria; 27 to 437 times the EU 0.10 mg/kg maximum for beef. The authors attribute this to combustion products from tire and plastic burning transferring to the meat surface during singeing.
Cadmium (Cd): range 0.4 to 19.5 mg/kg in singed meat from Cameroon; 8 to 390 times the Codex 0.050 mg/kg maximum.
Total arsenic (tAs): range 0.2 to 12.3 mg/kg in smoked or singed products from various countries; speciation not reported.
Nickel (Ni): range 7.7 to 149 mg/kg in fish at markets in Nigeria; attributed to contact contamination from metallic grills and utensils.
The review notes that standard Western food limits are routinely exceeded in these traditional processing contexts, but that the exposure pathway (use of plastic and tire fuel) is specific to informal sector processing and is not a property of the canned-meat product category.
IMPORTANT CAVEAT: These values are extreme outliers caused by use of tire rubber and plastic waste as combustion fuel in traditional West and Central African meat singeing and smoking. They are not measurements of commercial canned meat and must not be used as contamination-profile inputs for canned-meats product pages.
Methods (brief)
This is a narrative review, not a primary study. No original measurements are reported. Metal values in Table 3 are cited from referenced primary studies; the analytical methods are those of the cited studies and are not described in this review.
Evidence fitness
Supports: contextual understanding of heavy-metal contamination pathways in informal sector processed meats in Africa. Does not support: contamination profiles for commercial canned meat; regulatory risk assessment for retail canned meat products; contamination profiles in the EU, US, or comparable regulated markets.
Limitations
Review paper; no original measurements. The heavy-metal data are specific to informal traditional processing using contaminated fuel sources. Extrapolation to commercial canned meat is not supported. No distinction is made in the review between different fuel types in quantitative terms.
Related evidence
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