Overview
Abulgasim and Elbakosh measured milk fat, dry solids, lead and cadmium in five processed cheeses from Sabratha supermarkets and compared them with Libyan standards. They report one average value for each metal and conclude the cheeses pose no public health concern.
Key numbers
- Average cadmium “0.00005 mg/kg” and average lead “0.0006 mg/kg” (Results, p. 32).
- Table 2 prints these values for the first product only and “1” for the other four, explained as “all concentration was the same” (p. 32).
- Libyan limits cited: cadmium 0.05 and lead 0.25 for cheese (limits table, labelled µg.kg).
Methods (brief)
Duplicate 0.5 g portions were digested with nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide and analysed by graphite furnace AAS. Fat and solids were measured by the Gerber method. No detection limit, reference material or recovery is reported.
Evidence Fitness
Very weak: five products, identical results reported for all of them, a placeholder in place of real table values, and a unit label in the limits table that does not match its magnitudes. Both values carry an integrity flag. Processed cheese is a proxy for the macaroni and cheese page, not that dish.