Copper and other metals in meat were analysed by (Ybanez, Montoro, and Bueso 1983)
using both dry ashing and wet digestion with HNO2 and H2O2 , essentially there was not
any significant difference in the two methods of sample preparation. Samples analysed
included both cold and cooked ham; mortadella, Frankfurters and liver paste. Recoveries for
added metal for copper was found to be 100%. Copper determined in bovine liver standard
was 193 10 μg/g. The limit of detection for copper was determined as 0.17 μg/g. An
analysis of copper and zinc in meat and meat analogues was done by Schaefer et al (Schaefer
et al. 1979). Sample work up was carried out with nitric/perchloric acid digestion followed
by flame AA. The mean zinc content found in meat and meat analogues was 3.36 and 1.07
mg/100g respectively while the copper content was 0.09 and 0.32 mg/100 g in the same
product order. It can be seen that there is a contrast between the two metals in meat
products: zinc being higher is meat whereas copper is higher in the analogues. Work
undertaken by (Dalton and Malanoski 1969) determined copper and lead in meat ad meat
products but used dry ashing at 500oC for sample preparation unlike Schaefer’s group who
used wet digestion. Copper was found to be in the 1–5 ppm range.