Variation in some heavy metals during the production of white cheese

The lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury contents in samples of milk, curd an d white cheese taken from a production line were investigated. The lead, ca dmium and arsenic levels were found to be 12.07+/-0.06 ng/ml. 1.82+/-0.01 n g/ml and 0.64+/-0.03 ng/ml in milk, 219.85+/-0.46 ng/g, 19.58+/-0.34 ng/g a nd 8.80+/-0.41 ng/g in cheese curd, 250.63+/-0.53 ng/g, 21.19+/-0.16 ng/g a nd 10.85+/-0.34 ng/g in fresh white cheese preripened in brine salted to 16 %, and 260.25+/-0.51 ng/g, 22.87+/-0.17 ng/g and 11.35+/-0.29 ng/g in ripen ed white cheese, respectively. No detectable levels of mercury were found i n any of the samples. Variation in the heavy metal contents of samples take n during the production stages was significant (p < .05). The heavy metal c oncentrations of the samples were compared with those obtained by other inv estigators in different countries.