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Research article2024Peer reviewedOpen access

X-ray screening of donated wild game is insufficient to protect children from lead exposure

Buenz, Eric J.; Parry, Gareth J.; Hunter, Simon; Powell, Garret M.; Berghamer, Dominik; Cieraad, Ellen; Hampton, Jordan O.; Arnemo, Jon M.; Bauer, Brent A.

Abstract

Worldwide hunters distribute game meat as a gesture of community bonding and as an essential nutritional resource for those facing food insecurity, especially among children and adolescents. Nonetheless, the risk of lead (Pb) contamination from lead-based bullets is not widely acknowledged. Although medical radiography (X-ray) is the standard method to detect lead in meat donations, its efficacy in conclusively identifying lead contamination in game meat samples remains unknown. To address this deficiency, hunters-provided game meat samples were analyzed using both X-ray and inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). By ICP-MS, 48% of these samples contained lead levels exceeding the daily intake benchmarks for children, including the samples in which no lead was identified by X-ray screening. This finding means that food insecure individuals need to make an unenviable decision between risking lead exposure in donated meat or forgoing a potentially critical food source.

Keywords

Firearm; Heavy metal; Hunting; Food security

Published in

Discover Food
2024, Volume: 4, number: 1, article number: 31Publisher: SPRINGERNATURE

    UKÄ Subject classification

    Food Science

    Publication identifier

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s44187-024-00104-9

    Permanent link to this page (URI)

    https://res.slu.se/id/publ/132874