It is considered that cow's milk is almost complete food for human as it provides most of the micronutrients and macronutrients. The cow's milks are essential for the growth and development especially for children. The main compositions of cow's milk are protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals which are well defined. Presently, the study of micronutrients and toxic elements in cow's milk has been widely carried out particularly in the industrialized and polluted regions because of its possibility of contamination, and thereby health risk of the consumers. The elemental composition in local cow's milk samples in Bangladesh is not well studied yet. The present study was therefore aimed to determine the level of heavy metals (Cr, Ni, As, Cd, Hg, Pb, Mn, Cu, Zn and Fe) in cow's milk using EDXRF technique. Subsequently, the experimental data was used to calculate the human health risk through the intake of both powder and liquid cows' milk available in Bangladesh. The results showed that powder milk contains significantly higher concentration of heavy metals than liquid milk samples. The HRI (health risk index) and HI (hazard index) values for most of the elements in all milk samples were within the safe limit (<1.0) or close to safe limit (≤1.0) with an exception of Hg. However, HRI value for Hg in powder milk samples for both children and adult showed a value higher than one (>1). MPI (metal pollution index) value for powder milk samples are very high compared to other type of milk samples analyzed in this study. Therefore, it has been suggested that heavy metal contamination through local powder milk samples might have significant negative impact (threat) on human health.
Keywords: Analytical chemistry; Food science.