Overview
Badar and colleagues measured cadmium, lead and copper by atomic absorption in raw vendor milk, dairy milk and branded packaged milk around Raiwind near Lahore in 2024 and calculated hazard quotients for adults and children. Vendor milk had the widest ranges for all three metals. Only ranges are printed; means are shown in figures.
Key numbers
- Lead ranges: 0.017 to 0.049 (branded), 0.017 to 0.039 (dairy) and 0.017 to 0.054 mg/kg (vendor) (Results p. 4; Table 3).
- Cadmium range in vendor milk: 0.008 to 0.077 mg/kg; the branded (0.08 to 0.031) and dairy (0.06 to 0.039) ranges are printed with the lower bound above the upper (Results p. 4).
- Copper ranges: 0.064 to 0.139, 0.039 to 0.122 and 0.039 to 0.288 mg/kg (Results p. 4).
Methods (brief)
Two grams of milk were digested with nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide on a hot plate and read by atomic absorption. A milk powder reference material (GBW10115) gave recoveries of 98.6 to 101%. Hazard quotients used 0.127 kg/day milk for children and 0.066 kg/day for adults.
Evidence Fitness
Reference-material checks are reported, but results appear only as ranges, the branded sample count is not given, two cadmium ranges are misprinted, the text gives lead in mg per litre while tables use mg/kg, and the abstract and conclusion disagree on whether levels exceed limits. Packaged milk fat content is not stated, so this is not a measurement of reduced-fat milk. The printed title omits “Different … Marketed” in the manifest title.