Overview
Antunović and colleagues followed 10 pasture-fed ewes on one Croatian farm and measured cadmium, lead, mercury and arsenic in their milk on lactation days 2, 10, 30 and 60. Colostrum had more cadmium and lead and less arsenic than later milk; mercury did not change significantly.
Key numbers
- Colostrum (day 2): cadmium 0.011, lead 0.035, mercury 0.026, arsenic 0.011 mg/kg DM (Table 3, p. 372).
- Day 60 milk: cadmium 0.006, lead 0.026, mercury 0.021, arsenic 0.029 mg/kg DM (Table 3, p. 372).
Methods (brief)
Milk was microwave digested with nitric acid, sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide. Cadmium and lead were read by electrothermal AAS, arsenic and mercury by hydride AAS. No detection limits, reference materials or recoveries are reported. The DOI is not printed in the PDF.
Evidence Fitness
Ten animals from a single farm and no analytical QA. Table 3 labels values “mg/kg DM” while the digestion used liquid milk, so the basis is uncertain. This is raw ewe milk, an ingredient proxy for custard, so that page is not linked.