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Determination of melamine contamination in milk with various packaging: a risk assessment study

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Abstract

Melamine is one type of monomer used as starting substance in manufacturing packaging lining in many countries worldwide. Environmental and food contamination is an issue constantly discussed. In the present study, the melamine content in milk samples with three package types was measured by HPLC/UV. Melamine is not a lipophilic compound. Therefore, the selected samples were low-fat milk. The melamine content in various packaged milk, including packet, polyethylene bags, and plastic packaging, is 790 ± 39.8, 50.7 ± 13, and 57.7 ± 24.54 ppb, respectively. According to the existing standards, the measured values in all the milk samples were lower than the permitted limits. The risk assessment for adults and children showed that the HQ value for both age groups was less than 1. Therefore, milk consumption will not pose a health risk in terms of contamination with melamine.

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Availability of data and material

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.

Funding

This study received financial support from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (project No: 22003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Science and Technology, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute (NNFTRI) and Food Safety Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Iran, Tehran

    Kiandokht Ghanati

  2. Department of Environmental Health, Food Safety Division, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Hadi Eghbaljoo, Nader Akbari, Yeganeh Mazaheri, Babak Mahmoodi & Parisa Sadighara

  3. Department of Toxicology & Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Saeed Aghebat-Bekheir

  4. Department of Molecular Medicine, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Farshid Zandsalimi

  5. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Rize, Turkey

    Burhan Basaran

Authors
  1. Kiandokht Ghanati
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  2. Hadi Eghbaljoo
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  3. Nader Akbari
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  4. Yeganeh Mazaheri
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  6. Babak Mahmoodi
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  8. Burhan Basaran
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  9. Parisa Sadighara
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Contributions

The analysis of melamine in samples was conducted by Hadi Eghbaljoo, Nader Akbari, Babak Mahmoodi, and Parisa Sadighara. The analysis of data was performed by Saeed Aghebat-Bekheir, Kiandokht Ghanati, and Yeganeh Mazaheri. The manuscript was written by Kiandokht Ghanati and Yeganeh Mazaheri, Farshid Zandsalimi, and Burhan Basaran.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Parisa Sadighara.

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Ghanati, K., Eghbaljoo, H., Akbari, N. et al. Determination of melamine contamination in milk with various packaging: a risk assessment study. Environ Monit Assess 195, 1095 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11737-1

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