Abstract

<jats:p>
Summary. A survey to assess the extent of cadmium
accumulation in South Australian cattle was undertaken in 1989–91. Of
the 8635 cattle sampled, about 12% of the kidney samples and 1%
of the liver samples contained cadmium concentrations above the maximum
permitted concentration for human consumption of 2.5 mg/kg wet weight for
kidney and 1.25 mg/kg wet weight for liver. None of the 262 muscle samples
assayed contained cadmium concentrations above the maximum permitted
concentration of 0.2 mg/kg wet weight.
There was a significant effect of location, gender and season on the extent of
non-compliance. Of the regions examined, non-compliance rates for Kangaroo
Island, Lower Eyre, South East and Lower Central were significantly higher
than for the other regions. In general, non-compliance rates were higher in
female cattle than in male cattle, increased with age and were lowest in
spring. After adjustment for these factors, non-compliance rates were similar
across farm types, namely dairy, beef and feedlot.
Although there was a significant correlation between cadmium concentrations in
liver and in whole kidney, the confidence limit was considered excessive,
rendering liver cadmium values an unreliable predictor of cadmium values in
kidney.</jats:p>