Monitoring and Risk Assessment of Lead and Cadmium in Milks from East of Iran Using Monte Carlo Simulation Method

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Milk is an important component of the human diet. Exposure to heavy metals through dairy consumption of contaminated foods endangers human health. The aim of this study was to assess concentrations of lead and cadmium in raw milk samples from east of Iran and their safety risks. Materials and Methods: In this study, 54 raw milk samples from five regions were selected by cluster sampling and 20 samples of various popular brands of pasteurized milks were randomly purchased from supermarkets in east of Iran. Samples were digested in laboratory using acid digestion method. Concentrations of elements were calculated using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy. Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) approach was used to assess safety risks and investigate noncarcinogenic effects of lead and cadmium. Results: The mean concentrations of lead and cadmium in raw milks included 38.15 and 4.67 ±0.001 μg/kg, respectively. The mean concentrations of lead and cadmium in pasteurized milk included 48.49 ±0.001 and 6.84 ±0.001 μg/kg, respectively. Moreover, the target hazard quotient (THQ) for adults and children in all groups were reported within the safe limits. There were hence no possible risks of exposure to lead and cadmium as results of raw and pasteurized milk consumptions. Conclusions: Lead and cadmium levels did not exceed maximum levels (MLs) in any samples of raw and pasteurized milks. Persistent monitoring is a critical action to protect consumers from contaminated foods. The health risk assessment pursuant to Monte Carlo simulation approach demonstrated that children and adults were not at impressive health risk (THQ < 1).

Assessment of Rice Marketed in Iran with Emphasis on Toxic and Essential Elements; Effect of Different Cooking Methods

“…Where EDI is the estimated daily intake (mg/kg day), C (metal concentration (mg/kg)), IR (ingestion rate, 110 g/n day), ED (exposure duration, 54 years), EF (exposure frequency, 365 days/year), BW (reference body mass, the mean weight of children and adults is between 15 and 70 kg, respectively), and AT (AT is the mean time (for both children and adults are 25,550 days, respectively) [21].…”

Quantitative measurement of toxic metals and assessment of health risk in agricultural products food from Markazi Province of Iran

“…The THQ was used for the non-carcinogenic risk assessment of toxic metals according to Eq. 2 (Dadar et al 2017;Madani-Tonekaboni et al 2019;Roudbari et al 2021):…”

“…Where, CDI is chronic daily intake (mg kg − 1 per day); RfDo is the oral reference dose that for Hg, Pb and Cd are 0.0001, 0.0035, and 0.0005 mg kg − 1 per day (EPA U 2015; Dadar et al 2017;Madani-Tonekaboni et al 2019;Rezaei et al 2013).…”

Quantitative Measurement of Toxic Metals and Assessment of Health Risk in Plant-based Food from Markazi Province of Iran

“…The Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) is the most applied to the health risk assessment concerning uncertainty while the MCS approach usually deals with the parameters affecting uncertainties (Jahanbakhsh et In this study, "C" is the toxic metals concentration (mg kg − 1 ); "IRi" ingestion rate was set as (legume 19 g day − 1 , wheat 320 g day − 1 and potato 58 g Where, CDI is chronic daily intake (mg kg − 1 per day); RfDo is the oral reference dose that for Hg, Pb and Cd is 0.0001, 0.0035 and 0.0005 mg kg − 1 per day (Dadar et al 2017;Madani-Tonekaboni et al 2019;EPA 2015).…”

“…The THQ was used for the non-carcinogenic risk assessment of toxic metals according to Eq. 2Madani-Tonekaboni et al 2019):…”