Overview
Meng and colleagues surveyed pasteurized milk, UHT milk and infant formula milk powder bought in Chinese supermarkets in 2022 for aflatoxin M1, veterinary drugs, pesticides, heavy metals and heat-treatment markers. Heavy metals (arsenic, chromium, lead and mercury) were tested only in the 20 infant formula batches, and none was detected.
Key numbers
- Chromium in all infant formula samples was below the LOD of 0.05 mg/kg (Results, Heavy metals, p. 48).
- Mercury below LOD 0.001 mg/kg, arsenic below LOD 0.005 mg/kg, lead below LOD 0.02 mg/kg in all 20 batches (p. 48).
Methods (brief)
0.2 to 0.5 g of formula powder was microwave-digested in nitric acid and analysed by ICP-MS following GB 5009.268-2016. No certified reference material or recovery results are reported for the metals.
Evidence Fitness
Twenty batches with censored results only, so the study shows lead, arsenic, mercury and chromium below fairly high detection limits rather than giving concentrations. The lead LOD (0.02 mg/kg) equals the limit the authors cite, so the data cannot separate low and moderate lead levels. The paper does not say whether the formulas were cow-milk-based, so the cow-milk-infant-formula page is not linked. Liquid milk samples were not tested for metals.