Abstract
Cadmium (Cd) concentrations were evaluated in the samples of kidney, liver and muscle of sixty-six buffaloes regularly slaughtered. Forty were raised in Campania, in the territory between the province of Naples and Caserta and twenty-six were bred in Apulia, in the province of Bari. Two aliquots were prepared for the renal and hepatic samples: one intended for the chemical analysis and the other one intended for histological investigations. Muscle samples were the subject of purely chemical investigation. In the group of forty animals raised in the Campania region, the limits imposed by EC Reg. 1881/2006 and EC Reg. 488/2014 were exceeded in three renal samples, which showed values of 1.53, 1.22 and 1.1 mg/kg respectively; in three hepatic samples, which presented values of 0.72, 0.64 and 0.61 mg/kg, and in five muscle samples, with values of 0.16, 0.16, 0.09, 0.08 and 0.07, respectively. On the other hand, in the group of animals raised and slaughtered in the province of Bari, none of the twenty-six samples examined exceeded the limits imposed by the European regulations. The histological analysis showed typical, but not pathognomonic lesions in the renal samples from the animals raised in the provinces of Naples and Caserta. The levels of Cd contamination found in the samples examined suggest that it would be correct to exclude from the human consumption, as it happens for the equines, the kidney and the liver, especially from the animals raised in some geographical areas with a high rate of pollution.