Survey of heavy metal residues in raw milk in Tangshan City of China

The aim of this study was to assess the level of lead, chromium, cadmium, mercury and arsenic in 192 raw milk samples collected from Tangshan City of China using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The detectable rate and concentration ranges of the five metals as follows: lead 3.1%, 31.15-39.60 µg kg -1 ; chromium 65.6%, 15.50-87.50 µg kg -1 ; cadmium 3.1%, 8.30-74.40 µg kg -1 ; mercury 1.6%, 0.00-9.50 µg kg -1 ; arsenic 3.1%, 74.70-117.00 µg kg -1 . The occurrence of lead, chromium, mercury and arsenic in all positive samples was below China's national legal limit of lead 50 µg kg -1 , chromium 300 µg kg -1 , mercury 10 µg kg -1 and arsenic 50 µg kg -1 . However, the lead content in positive milk samples exceeds the European Union (EU) and Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC)'s legal limit of 20 µg kg -1 .