Pollution of important dairy products with some heavy metals and their public health significance

A total of 300 random samples of imported milk productsrepresented by 80 samples of cheeses including F eta, Edam, Cheddar andProcessed cheese (20 of each), 80 samples of milk powder type A,B,C& D (20 of each ), 40 samples of condensed milk type E & F ( 20 ofeach) and 100 samples of butter ghee types a,b,c,d & e ( 20 of each) werecollocted from different retail outlets at different localities in AlexandriaCity for detection of their heavy metals residues.However, copper concentration ranged from 0.36 to 21.0 p.p.m,which were higher than Egyptian Standard (1993) except type ”C” milkpowder which agreed with the Egyptian Standard (1993). Meanwhilecopper concentrations in condensed milk samples exceeded the limits ofUnderwood (1977).Lead concentration ranged from 2.5 to 7.5 p.p .. m. exceeding theEgyptian standard (1993), except Feta and Edam cheeses which wereless than the Egyptian standard (1993), but butter ghee samples werethe least levels for lead concentration of milk samples except type ”e” ofbutter ghee samples, meanwhile lead concentration in more than 5% ofmilk samples exceeded IDF (1979).Cadmium concentration ranged from 0.25 to 1.0 p.p.m. meanwhilethe maximum findings of all tested samples exceeded the Egyptian