Aluminium content in milk and milk products and its leachability from dairy utensils

Abstract

Aluminium is non-essential element for humans and is considered to be a toxic metal. The present investigation was carried out to determine aluminium concentrations in milk and milk products, to estimate the intake of aluminium via consumption of milk and dairy products and to investigate the leachability of aluminium from utensils into milk products during processing and storage. A total of 85 milk and milk products samples were collected from farms, individual farmers and dairy shops in Beni-Suef governorate, Egypt. Mean aluminium concentrations in farm milk, market milk, kareish cheese, yoghurt and rice pudding were 19.93, 107.32, 52.36, 4.19 and 80.97 ppm, respectively. Aluminium intake through milk and milk products consumption was calculated to be 246.72 mg week-1 which corresponds to 205.5% of the PTWI. Processing and storage of milk in aluminium containers also raise aluminium content significantly. The results indicated the advantage of using stainless steel over aluminium utensils for processing and storage of milk products, especially those acidic in nature.