A study of heavy metal presence in cow milk of different dairy farms near Karnafuli paper mills, Chittagong, Bangladesh

摘要

Cow milk is considered as one of the food sources that contaminated with heavy metals, because the cows graze on the grass grown in lands which somehow come in contact with the untreated effluent of industries. The study sheds light in assessing the content of selected metals in milk of cows of different ages collected from dairy farms located at Karnafuli paper mills, Chittagong, Bangladesh. In total 50 cows were taken for study,(10 cows of each age) and Chromium (Cr), Iron (Fe), Cadmium (Cd), Lead (Pb), Zinc (Zn), Manganese (Mn), Nickel (Ni), Copper (Cu), Mercury (Hg) concentrations were measure and the overall mean metal concentrations of total 50 milk sample were found in the following order: FeCrMnZnNiPBHgScCdAs. In most cases, it is noticeable that metal concentration increased with the increasing age of cows. Finally, human health risk associated with drinking the milk is identified using Target Health Quotient (THQ) mea sure and found that Cadmium, Chromium, Arsenic and Mercury are the most dangerous poisonous element p resent in the cow milk.