Davidov et al. 2019 - Heavy metals in cow milk in Serbia

Davidov and colleagues measured heavy metals in cow milk in Serbia. The study is routeable for dairy and milk occurrence because it reports mean element concentrations in milk and compares them with international recommendations. Lead was reported just above the cited recommended value.

Key numbers

  • Highest average concentrations in cow milk were Fe 283.9 mg/kg, Zn 60.21 mg/kg, and Cu 4.404 mg/kg.
  • Reported mean toxic or trace elements included As 0.058 mg/kg, Cd 0.01 mg/kg, Co 0.002 mg/kg, Cr 0.018 mg/kg, Mn 0.493 mg/kg, Ni 0.119 mg/kg, and Pb 0.08 mg/kg.
  • The authors state that Pb was just above recommended values by the International Dairy Federation and Codex for cow milk.

Methods (brief)

Milk samples were collected during morning milking and analyzed by atomic absorption spectrometry. Results are total element concentrations in milk; arsenic and chromium are not speciated.

Implications

Certification: Supports cow-milk and dairy occurrence context, with Serbia-specific geography.

Courses: Useful for explaining milk as a transfer matrix from animal environment and feed.

App: Can inform dairy ingredient priors with non-US market caveats.

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Verification notes

The paper reports total As and total Cr. Do not route it to iAs or Cr(VI).

Page history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page. The full version history lives in git; when DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.

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