Determination of essential nutrients and heavy metal content of raw cow's milk from East Azerbaijan province, Iran

Milk is a highly nutritious food to the human diet. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure the quality of it for people consumption. In this study, we determine the essential nutrients (protein and fat) and heavy metal concentrations (Pb and Cd) of raw cow's milk from 15 milk collection centres in East Azerbaijan province, Iran. Sampling was carried out during a one-year period according to the standard method. Heavy metals and nutritional parameters were analysed using MilkoScan FT 6000 and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) instrument, respectively. Our results showed that the mean concentration of lead (Pb) (0.010 +/- 0.001 mg/kg) and cadmium (Cd) (0.007 +/- 0.001 mg/kg) in milk samples were within the recommended codex standard. While, in 65% and 54.4% of this data, the protein and fat contents of selected samples were less than the recommended Iranian standard, respectively. On the other hand, the obtained data did not show the significant difference between these tested factors and time changes during the assessment. The results of this research can be used by organisations related to the quality assessment of milk such as the Food and Drug Administration and the Ministry of Agriculture of Iran.