Abstract
Environments prone to naturally non-biodegradable metal pollution have remained hot areas of research. Here, concentrations of Cu, Cr, Cd and Pb in 90 bovine tissue (kidney, liver and muscle) samples collected from Gondar City abattoir and Nara-Awudarda in Central Gondar Zone, Ethiopia, were investigated. The samples were dry-ashed at 550 °C for 3.45 h, mineralized with 2 mL conc. HNO(3), and analysed using flame atomic absorption spectrometer. Pattern recognition methods, viz. principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares - discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), were employed to investigate heavy metal profiles in bovine tissues and classify them based on their geographic source. Results showed that the mean concentrations of the metals (mg/kg) extended in the range: 1.5-11.5 (Cu), 0.42-1.5 (Pb), BDL-1.05 (Cr) and BDL-0.41 (Cd). The concentrations of Cu and Cd, except Cd in muscle samples from Gondar City abattoir, were below the permissible limits while Pb and Cr, except for Pb in kidney and Cr in all samples at Gondar City abattoir, were above the permissible limits. Hence, it calls for enforceable food safety monitoring practices. PCA visualizes grouping of the studied bovine tissues based on the contents of analyzed metals where liver contained highest concentrations of the studied metals, except for Cd, which was highest in kidney. PLS-DA model clearly classified the tissue samples into two clusters depending on their geographic source. In general, the accumulation burden of heavy metals exhibited tissue-specific and sample source differences, probably due to varied organ functions and environmental conditions.