Determination of some heavy metals concentration in some dairy products from three different regions of basrah, iraq

الملخص EN

Ninety samples of cow and buffalo's milk besides their products (cheese andcream), which were collected from three different regions in Basrah city (Basrah centre, AbuAl-Khaseeb and Al-Zubair), were investigated.

Levels of some heavy metals (Fe, Cu, Pb, Niand Cd) were analyzed using an atomic orption spectrophotometer (AAS).

Results showeda trend for three products in which the order in terms of quantities of the levels of Fe, Cu andPb are: milk > cheese > cream of cows and buffaloes.

However, the levels of Ni and Cd werenot detected in all samples in this study.

Statistical analysis showed that the differencesbetween all different regions were statistically significant (P˂0.05).

It was also found that themean levels of Fe in cow and buffalo's products for different regions higher than thoserecommended by WHO standard and codex.

Likewise, the mean contents of Cu and Pb haveexceeded the WHO permissible limits.