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The detection of the influence of chronic poisoning with cadmium on some lipid metabolism in heart muscle and aorta of rabbits was the main object of the paper. A distinct cumulation of cadmium in the heart muscle was observed. However, its excessive accumulation in the wall of the aorta was not noted. A trend toward an increase of all lipid parameters, that is triglycerides, free fatty acids, phospholipids and cholesterol, was observed in the heart muscle. On the other hand, the level of phospholipids increased very distinctly in the aorta and the level of free fatty acids decreased insignificantly, which can be a favourable factor for the development of atherosclerosis processes.

In this research, we attempted to demonstrate whether and to what extent chronic cadmium poisoning influences lipid metabolism in the kidney and liver of rats. The presence of small quantities of cadmium was discovered in the kidneys and livers of normal animals. In the tested organs of cadmium-poisoned rats, a significant increase of the concentration of this element was observed, depending on the dose of the compound administered. Regarding lipid components, a reduced concentration of phospholipids and an increased level of free fatty acids were found in both kidney and liver. Such changes are probably the result of enzymatic disorders, especially as regards calmodulin-dependent enzymes. The content of the remaining assayed lipid compounds, i.e. triglycerides and total cholesterol, did not change in either organ under the effects of cadmium.

The effects of chilling/tempering treatments on the pH, weight loss and quality characteristics of beef, pork and lamb variety meats (livers, hearts, tongues and kidneys) that were packaged either in polyethylene (PE) bags or vacuum packaged (VP) in the USA and transported fresh-chilled to Antwerp, Belgium, were evaluated. Product arrived at the final destination 11 d after departure from the United States seaport (13 to 15 d after packaging). Changes in pH during overseas shipment were generally small and suggested a lack of product quality deterioration resulting from major microbial proliferation during this period. Variety meats that were not prechilled before packaging generally had the lowest weight loss among chilling/tempering treatments. In general, fresh-chilled variety meats that were vacuum packaged incurred less weight loss than those that were packaged in PE bags. Livers lost a greater percentage of their weight during shipment than did other variety meats. Vacuum-packaged variety meats had more desirable quality characteristics after shipment than those that were packaged in PE bags. Shipping fresh-chilled variety meats in PE does not appear feasible. Although some statistical differences were noted, the chilling/tempering treatments appeared to have little appreciable effect on quality characteristics of variety meats, with two exceptions: (a) cooler-chilled variety meats packaged in PE bags had superior quality characteristics as compared to those that were not prechilled and packaged in PE bags; and (b) livers that were not prechilled before vacuum packaging did not maintain their qualitative characteristics as well as did those in other chilling/tempering treatments.