Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) including PCDD/Fs, PCBs and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are among the most important and hazardous pollutants of soil. Food producing animals such as chicken, beef, sheep and goats can take up soil while grazing or living outdoors (free-range) and this can result in contamination.In recent decades, large quantities of brominated flame retardants such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) and per- and polyfluorinated alkylated substances (PFAS) have been produced and released into the environment and this has resulted in widespread contamination of soils and other environmental matrices. These POPs also bioaccumulate and can contaminate food of animal origin resulting in indirect exposure of humans.Recent assessments of chicken and beef have shown that surprisingly low concentrations of PCBs and PCDD/Fs in soil can result in exceedances of regulatory limits in food. Soil contamination limits have been established in a number of countries for PCDD/Fs but it has been shown that the contamination levels which result in regulatory limits in food (the maximum levels in the European Union) being exceeded, are below all the existing soil regulatory limits. ‘Safe’ soil levels are exceeded in many areas around emission sources of PCDD/Fs and PCBs. On the other hand, PCDD/F and dioxin-like PCB levels in soil in rural areas, without a contamination source, are normally safe for food producing animals housed outdoors resulting in healthy food (e.g. meat, eggs, milk).For the majority of POPs (e.g. PBDEs, PFOS, PFOA, SCCP) no regulatory limits in soils exist.There is, therefore, an urgent need to develop appropriate and protective soil standards minimising human exposure from food producing animals housed outdoors. Furthermore, there is an urgent need to eliminate POPs pollution sources for soils and to control, secure and remediate contaminated sites and reservoirs, in order to reduce exposure and guarantee food safety.

The tannery industries utilize environmentally hazardous chemicals to achieve dehairing of animal hides, which causes enormous waterbed pollution & high TDS load. Alkaline protease enzyme for dehairing can be an effective solution to resolve the environmental problems of the tannery industry waste. However, stable, cost-efficient and eco-benign formulations of alkaline protease need to be developed for commercial applications in the tannery industry. This works aimed at development of a nano-formulation of the enzyme alkaline protease (AKP) as a bioconjugate nano silica-alkaline protease enzyme (BC–SiNP-AKP). This work reports one pot green synthesis of the BC-SiNP-AKP bionanoconjugate complex which included both biotemplating and immobilization of the AKP on to the synthesized silica nanoparticles from cell-free extracts of Bacillus circulans grown in potato peel based medium. Among the cell free crude, acetone concentrated and purified sols of the enzyme AKP, acetone precipitated enzyme sol was found to be best for the biological SiNP synthesis and formation of BC-SiNP-AKP conjugate. The BC-SiNP-AKP had size ranging from 100 to 200 nm with crystalline morphologies varying from spherical, tubular to laminated crystallites. The developed bioconjugate formulation displayed 1.7-fold increase in the enzyme activity post nano-conjugation with superlative dehairing potential on goat skin. The optimized parameters for dehairing were found to be as temperature 37 °C for 24 h of incubation and with enzyme to buffer ratio (2: 50 mL). Thereafter, the dehaired skin was assessed for its histopathological effects, which were found to be safe without any deteriorative changes. The developed formulation is environmentally congenial for its use as depilating agent for animal hides in terms of being green, single pot and cost effective synthesis.

Genome fragment enrichment (GFE) method was applied to identify host-specific bacterial genetic markers that differ among different fecal metagenomes. To enrich for swine-specific DNA fragments, swine fecal DNA composite (n = 34) was challenged against a DNA composite consisting of cow, human, goat, sheep, chicken, duck and goose fecal DNA extracts (n = 83). Bioinformatic analyses of 384 non-redundant swine enriched metagenomic sequences indicated a preponderance of Bacteroidales-like regions predicted to encode metabolism-associated, cellular processes and information storage and processing. After challenged against fecal DNA extracted from different animal sources, four sequences from the clone libraries targeting two Bacteroidales- (genes 1–38 and 3–53), a Clostridia- (gene 2–109) as well as a Bacilli-like sequence (gene 2–95), respectively, showed high specificity to swine feces based on PCR analysis. Host-specificity and host-sensitivity analysis confirmed that oligonucleotide primers and probes capable of annealing to select Bacteroidales-like sequences (1–38 and 3–53) exhibited high specificity (>90%) in quantitative PCR assays with 71 fecal DNAs from non-target animal sources. The two assays also demonstrated broad distributions of corresponding genetic markers (>94% positive) among 72 swine feces. After evaluation with environmental water samples from different areas, swine-targeted assays based on two Bacteroidales-like GFE sequences appear to be suitable quantitative tracing tools for swine fecal pollution.

Nairobi city in Kenya produces 2000 tons/day of garbage, and most of it is dumped onto the Dandora dumping site, home to a quarter-million residents. This study was conducted (1) to assess the contamination levels of nine metals and a metalloid (arsenic) in the blood of pigs, goats, sheep and cattle from Dandora, and (2) to identify a possible source of lead (Pb) pollution. Cadmium (Cd, 0.17–4.35 μg/kg, dry-wt) and Pb (90–2710 μg/kg) levels in blood were generally high, suggesting human exposure to Cd through livestock consumption and Pb poisoning among pigs (2600 μg/kg) and cattle (354 μg/kg). Results of Pb isotope ratios indicated that the major exposure route might differ among species. Our results also suggested a possibility that the residents in Dandora have been exposed to the metals through livestock consumption.

Veterinary pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, are emerging contaminants of concern worldwide. Avian scavengers are exposed to pharmaceuticals through consumption of livestock carcasses used for feeding wildlife for conservation purposes at supplementary feeding stations. Here we tested the hypothesis that griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) would be more exposed to antibiotics (i.e., quinolones) when feeding on livestock carcasses from intensive farming than when they rely on carcasses from extensive farming or wild animals. We sampled 657 adult griffon vultures captured between 2008 and 2012. In addition, we sampled tissues from domestic livestock supplied at feeding stations in the study area between 2009 and 2019; pig (n = 114), sheep (n = 28), cow (n = 1) and goat (n = 2). Samples were analysed by liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS). Quinolones were detected in plasma from 12.9% of the griffon vultures analysed. Quinolone prevalence in griffon vultures varied significantly among feeding stations but was also affected by the total amount of carcasses supplemented, especially the mass of pig carcasses. These results aligned with a 21.1% quinolone prevalence in pig carcasses sampled at feeding stations, wherein enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin levels of up to 3359 ng/g and 1550 ng/g, respectively, were found. Given enrofloxacin pharmacokinetics in pig tissues, 5.3% of the analysed pigs may have died no more than one day after treatment. Quinolone presence in vultures was negatively associated with blood lead levels, which mostly originates from lead ammunition and indicates a higher consumption of game animal carcasses. Carcass disposal for feeding avian scavengers must always assess and manage the risks posed by veterinary pharmaceuticals, especially when livestock provided may have died soon after treatment.

Stable Pb isotope ratios (Pb-IRs) have been recognized as an efficient tool for identifying sources. This study carried out at Kabwe mining area, Zambia, to elucidate the presence or absence of Pb isotope fractionation in goat and chicken, to evaluate the reliability of identifying Pb pollution sources via analysis of Pb-IRs, and to assess whether a threshold for blood Pb levels (Pb-B) for biological fractionation was present. The variation of Pb-IRs in goat decreased with an increase in Pb-B and were fixed at certain values close to those of the dominant source of Pb exposure at Pb-B > 5 μg/dL. However, chickens did not show a clear relationship for Pb-IRs against Pb-B, or a fractionation threshold. Given these, the biological fractionation of Pb isotopes should not occur in chickens but in goats, and the threshold for triggering biological fractionation is at around 5 μg/dL of Pb-B in goats.

This work aimed to explore the concentration of nickel, manganese, iron, copper, chromium, and lead in the milk of goat herds in the industrial area of Asaluyeh (southern Iran) and the non-industrial area of Kaki. The milk of 16 goat herds (each herd had at least ten goats) was collected in several villages in each area, and at the same time, the drinking water and forage of goats were sampled. The concentration of elements in the samples was determined by ICP-OES. The mean concentrations of chromium, copper, iron, manganese, lead, and nickel in milk samples of the Asaluyeh area were 16.423 ± 0.349, 0.146 ± 0.118, 6.111 ± 0.501, 0.239 ± 0.016, 0.141 ± 0.030, and 1.447 ± 0.101 mg/kg, respectively. Concentrations of heavy metals (except for copper) in the milk of goats in the industrialized area of Asaluyeh were significantly higher than that of Kaki (P < 0.05). Also, the content of heavy metals was significantly correlated with lactose levels (P < 0.05). The hazard index for drinking the goat milk was computed to be 0.444 and 0.386 for the Asaluyeh and Kaki area, respectively, which shows a minimal effect of this exposure pathway.

Dyes from industrial wastewaters represent one of the most hazardous pollutants as they are not effectively biodegradable. The present work is focused to study the novel properties of keratin-polyamide blend nanofibrous filtration membranes for treating wastewaters containing dye. Keratin protein was extracted from goat hair, a tannery waste through sulphitolysis process. The extracted keratin was blended with polyamide to prepare a nanofibrous membrane through the electrospinning process. The fabricated pristine polyamide and keratin-altered polyamide membranes were characterized and compared for their properties. Effects of solution pH, dye concentration, membrane flux, and membrane capacity have been examined. Very fine nanofibers and enhanced porosity drive the membrane to enhanced flux and higher filtration efficiencies. At pH 2, the dye removal efficiency of the blend membranes was 100, 99, 98, 90, and 83% for 100, 200, 250, 300, and 400 ppm concentrations of dye, respectively. The keratin–polyamide blend membrane exhibited better properties in all aspects. The results of this present investigation indicate that the presence of keratin in filtration membranes is promising for dye removal from the effluents.

Preservation or curing of hides/skins is performed as the primary step of leather processing to conserve them from putrefaction. Normally preservation is carried out using common salt (NaCl), which is discharged in the soak liquor contributing to ~ 70%, of total dissolved solids (TDS) load of entire leather manufacturing. In an attempt to reduce the TDS and chlorides, phyto-based preservation using garlic peel (Allium sativum) and white onion peel (Allium cepa) was carried out. Different concentrations of salt in combination with garlic peel and white onion peel were applied on freshly flayed goat skins based on its green weight and compared to control (40% salt). Sensory evaluation of the preserved skin was done by assessing different parameters like hair slip, putrefaction and odour. Estimation of hydroxyproline (HP) release, moisture content and microbial load were carried out at regular intervals. Skins that remained in good condition for 14 days were further processed into leather and properties were examined which were found comparable to the conventionally cured skins. Hence, this cleaner curing technique helps in reducing the TDS and chlorides in the effluent, thus controlling the pollution caused by tanneries through sustainable leather processing.