Assessment of Heavy Metals Residues in Milk Powder and Infant Milk Formula Sold in Mansoura City, Egypt

A total of 75 samples including, 25 samples each of full cream milk powder, skimmed milk powder and infant milk formula collected from Mansoura city, Egypt at the period between April and September 2014 were analyzed for measuring Lead, Chromium and Cadmium levels. Flame Emission Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer could detect Lead, Chromium and Cadmium by means of 0.05±0.01, 2.70±0.34 and 0.09±0.02 mg/Kg in examined full cream milk powder, 0.03±0.01, 1.98±0.24 and 0.03±0.01 mg/Kg in examined skimmed milk powder and 0.03±0.01, 3.88±0.34 and 0.04±0.003 mg/Kg in examined infant milk formula, respectively. By comparing the concentration of heavy metals present in analyzed samples to their permissible limits, it was noted that most of tested samples contained heavy metals by levels exceeding maximum permissible limits proposed for them, hence milk powder and infant milk formula may carry a potential health hazards for humans which needs a rigorous monitoring program to prevent food contamination by these toxic heavy metals and to ensure that their levels did not exceed the legal limits for human consumption.