Risk Assessment of Certain Heavy Metals and Trace Elements in Milk and Milk Products Consumed in Aswan Province.

Abstract

Considering that pollutants transformed to human body through food consumption, food safety is of great concern to consumers. Because consumption of milk contaminated with heavy metals poses serious threats to consumer's health. This study was conducted to evaluate the concentration of heavy metals and its risk with the consumption of milk and milk products in Aswan Province . A total of 20 samples of raw fresh buffalo, cow, sheep and goat milk and 16 samples of milk products of Kareish cheese, Domiati cheese, Mish and Samna were analyzed for the presence of heavy metals of Cadmium (Cd) and Lead (Pb) and trace elements of Copper (Cu) and Zinc (Zn) via Atomic Adsorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The results showed that the concentration of total heavy metals differed between different areas, it was the highest in Edfu but the least in Toshka. With the analysis of metals concentration in milk of different species, the results showed higher concentration of total metals in sheep and goat milk combined with low content of Cd and high content of Zn and Cu than that of cow and buffalo milk. Comparing the Cd, Pb, Cu and Zn concentrations in locally manufactured milk products with the permissible upper limit of EOS (1993), the results are within the permissible limit. The health risk assessment of metals was assessed on the basis of determining of EDI and THQ for inhabitants through the consumption of contaminated milk and milk products. The EDI of Cd and Pb contributed to 59.7% and 20.48% of PTDI, while Zn contributed to 0.0345 to 2.582% and 0.0475 to 3.55% of RDA for male and female, respectively, but the Cu contributed to 0.0555 to 7.466 % of RDA. The results also showed that THQ of all metals under studies are less than one via the consumption of milk and milk products which means that inhabitants in Aswan Governorate will not exposed to health risk from the consumption of raw milk and milk product.