Evaluation of Potentially Toxic Trace Metals and Associated Health Risk Assessment in Buffalo Milk

Aqsa Rafiq; Munir H Shah; Mohamed Mohany; Adnan Ahmad Tahir; Mohamed Farouk Elsadek; Muhammad Abdul Qayyum; Arshad Mehmood Abbasi

doi:10.3390/ijerph192214678

Evaluation of Potentially Toxic Trace Metals and Associated Health Risk Assessment in Buffalo Milk

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Nov 9;19(22):14678. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192214678.

Authors

Aqsa Rafiq¹, Munir H Shah², Mohamed Mohany³, Adnan Ahmad Tahir¹, Mohamed Farouk Elsadek⁴, Muhammad Abdul Qayyum⁵, Arshad Mehmood Abbasi^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan.
² Department of Chemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.
³ Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Community Health Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 10219, Riyadh 11433, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Division of Science & Technology, University of Education, Lahore 54770, Pakistan.
⁶ University of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II 9, 12042 Pollenzo, Italy.

Abstract

The contamination of toxic trace metals in the food chain is one of the major threats to human health. Milk is part of a balanced diet, which is essential for proper growth, but the ingestion of contaminated milk may cause chronic health disorders. The present study is focused on the assessment of contamination of toxic trace metals in buffalo milk and the associated health risks to the consumers of Abbottabad, Pakistan. Standard analytical methods were employed to quantify the metal contents in the milk samples collected from various shops and homes in the months from June 2021 to October 2021. Health risk assessment was accomplished by computing estimated daily intake (EDI), health risk index (HRI), target hazard quotient (THQ), hazard index (HI), and target cancer risk (TCR). On a comparative basis, the mean concentration of Cr was found to be highest in both shop and home milk samples (101.3 ± 45.33 and 54.11 ± 24.20 mg/L, respectively), followed by Pb, Zn, Ni, and Cd levels. In buffalo milk collected from homes, the highest concentration of the metals was found in October, followed by July, September, June, and August. In shop milk, the increasing trend of metal contents was July > October > September > June > August. Significantly strong positive relationships were noted between the metal concentrations in the milk samples. Multivariate cluster analysis and principal component analysis exhibited significant anthropogenic contributions of the metals in buffalo milk. Mostly, the EDI and HRI values were exceeding the recommended limits; however, THQ, HI, and TCR showed that the intake of these metals through milk consumption was within the safe limit and thus revealed no significant carcinogenic or non-carcinogenic risks to the consumers. It is high time to ensure the continuous monitoring of organic/inorganic toxins in the milk and concerned authorities should take strict measures to control the contamination of milk and other food products.

Keywords: buffalo milk; cancer risk; health risk; potentially toxic metals; statistical analysis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Buffaloes
Humans
Metals, Heavy* / analysis
Milk / chemistry
Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell
Risk Assessment
Trace Elements* / analysis

Substances

Metals, Heavy
Trace Elements
Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell

Grants and funding

The APC was funded by King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia through researchers supporting project number (RSP-2021/349).