Heavy metal contamination pathways and health risk assessment in raw buffalo milk from Egyptian dairy environments: Implications for safety and sustainability

Overview

Aly and colleagues measured seven metals in composite buffalo milk from three farms in greater Cairo (Giza and Qalyubia Governorates) by ICP-MS/MS. Mercury, nickel, and cobalt were not detected in any sample. Lead, cadmium, chromium, and arsenic were all detected; arsenic exceeded the Codex Alimentarius maximum of 0.01 mg/kg by more than 30-fold at all three farms, indicating significant environmental contamination. The farms are in a periurban region with known industrial and agricultural inputs.

Key numbers

Table 3, mean +/- SEM, mg/kg wet weight:

ND = non-detected; Codex Alimentarius limit for arsenic in milk: 0.01 mg/kg (authors’ comparator); Codex limit for lead in milk: 0.02 mg/kg (exceeded at Farm 3).

Methods (brief)

ICP-MS/MS (Agilent 8800) with microwave digestion (4 mL HNO3 + 2 mL H2O2). Helium and oxygen collision modes used for interference reduction. Recoveries 92 to 120 percent reported. No explicit LOD/LOQ values listed in the main text; all reported values exceed the procedural blank level.

Evidence fitness

Buffalo milk, not cow milk. The arsenic values are exceptionally high and reflect localized industrial contamination in a periurban Egyptian setting. These are composite samples from heavily impacted farms and are not representative of a national or regional exposure distribution for typical retail milk. The cadmium and lead values are more in the range reported by other surveys from the region. Mercury, nickel, and cobalt being undetected is consistent with other Egyptian and Middle Eastern milk surveys at similar detection limits.

Related evidence

• Milk and Dairy
• Liquid milk — cow
• Lead
• Arsenic
• Cadmium

Update history

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