Toxic Elements in Animal Products and Environmental Health

In the higher organisms, the intake of trace elements occurs mainly through the respiratory system or through the food chain. Particularly, many dangerous elements or compounds, such as metals accumulate along the food chain. In this way, the food chain becomes the main gateway for persistent toxicants to enter higher organisms. Furthermore, these toxic elements generally have an anthropogenic origin and thus their concentrations in the environment grow with the increase of urban, agricultural and industrial emissions. With increasing environmental pollution, a toxic metal exposure assessment study is necessary. Toxic elements are not metabolized at all. Some metals irreversibly are bound to body tissues, e.g., lead to bone or cadmium to kidneys. This review updates the information on carry-over of toxic substances from feed to food of animal origin (meat, organs, milk and eggs). The control of environmental contaminants that may cause residues in food of animal origin is sometimes quite difficult and expensive and is addressed with special attention in this review.