The concentration of Lead (Pb) and Mercury (Hg) in the liver and beef cattle that reared in the

Tamangappa landfill of Makassar City

Ruslan La Ane, Anwar Daud, Nurjanna, and Rina F. Awaliah ruslan_fkm@yahoo.com; i_rifia@ymail.com; nuejhamandjha@yahoo.com;

Land use shifting from agricultural to non-agricultural sector in many big cities in Indonesia including Makassar may cause the lack of cattle ranch in the city. Such condition has triggered the breeder to shepherd their cows to the landfill in order to feeding them. This is apprehensive because those livestock may be exposed to the toxic materials especially from inorganic waste that may contain heavy metals such as lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg) from the landfill with open dumping system. This research aimed to assess the concentration of Pb and Hg in the liver and beef cattle that reared in the landfill of Tamangappa Makassar. A 100 gram sample each of liver and beef derived from 10 cows (minimum 1 year old) that shepherd in the landfill were taken to be examined in the laboratory by using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). It found that the concentration of lead (Pb) in the liver ranged from 1.257 mg/Kg to 3.449 mg/Kg. While, in the beef cattle it ranged from 1.222 mg/Kg to 1.470 mg/Kg. This results in fact has exceeded the maximum allowable level of lead in the food (SNI 7387: 2009), which is only 1.0 mg/Kg. In addition, the concentration of mercury (Hg) in the liver found between 0.001 mg/Kg and 0.024 mg/Kg. whereas, in the beef cattle it was found between 0.004 mg/Kg and 0.009 mg/Kg. It seems that the level of Hg concentration both in the liver and beef are still below the standard, which is 0.03 mg/Kg. Since the demand of beef in the community increased, particularly in Makassar City who has a popular traditional food made from beef innards, a strictly monitoring should be done to the food provider in order to ensure that food is save to be consumed by community.

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