Table 8.
Heavy metal concentration in chicken feeds of the US and permitted levels according to European Union (EU) and National Research Council (NRC) regulations.
| Feed Type and Location | Concentration in mg/kg | Reference | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| As | Cd | Cr | Cu | Ni | Pb | Se | Zn | Hg | ||
| Layer feeds/US | <1.0 | 0.39 | 0.76 | 23 | 2.6 | - | - | 153 | - | [1] |
| Broiler feeds/US | 1.27 | 1.66 | 1.66 | 1.81 | 887 | 4.4 | 10.5 | 6980 | - | [1] |
| Poultry complete feed/Asia, North & Latin America Between 2009–2016 | 404 | 782.8 | - | - | - | 722.4 | - | - | - | [88] |
| Premix/Asia, North & Latin America Between 2009–2016 | 3190 | 10,914 | - | - | - | 6467 | - | - | [88] | |
| Chicken from herds of <2000 birds/China | 0.08–1.91 | nd | nd–39.80 | 2.88–10.28 | - | - | - | 52.62–111.12 | - | [89] |
| 2000–20,000 birds/China | 0.04–3.36 | nd–1.70 | nd–936.45 | 2.88–51.73 | - | - | - | 63.12–127 | - | [89] |
| >20,000 birds/China | 32 | |||||||||
| Permissible levels (non-essential elements) in poultry feedstuff according to EU regulations | <2.0 | 0.5 | - | - | <5.0 | - | - | - | [90] | |
| Permissible levels (non-essential elements) in complete diet for all animal spp. according to EU regulations |
2.0 | 0.1 | - | - | - | 2.0 | - | - | 0.1 | |
| Permissible levels in poultry feed according to NRC | 30 | 10 | 500 | 250 | 250 | 10 | 500 | 0.1 | [91,92] | |