ISSN: 2312-5365 www.LJMR.com.ly Wipe site No. 2413-6069 Vol.9 No. 2 Year 2015 65 Quantitative determination of lead and cadmium in samples of six brands of infant's milk powder formulae marked in Libya Hamza A Alzrgani, Badria A. Salem,NadiaA. Laswad, Ismail M Awheda and Ashok Kumar Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Almergheb University, Al-khoms, Libya ABSTRACT Six commercial samples of Infant milk formulae (powdered form) which represent most kinds of milk formulae used for feeding infants from birth up to three years of age were taken from reputed Pharmacies of different cities of Libya for the estimation of heavy metals, lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd). All samples were analyzed by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer . The different kinds of infants milk formulae were found to have concentration of Pb and Cd ranging from 0.0000-0.0080 ppm and 0.0001 – 0.0015 ppm , respectively. Results obtained revealed that level of values of Pb and Cd were below the permissible limits as recommended by WHO and other standards .This study signifies its importance for consumers, manufactures and professionals in children’s health care programs. KEYWORDS :Infant’s milk formulae, Analysis (FAAS),VARIN SPECTR AA 55B, Heavy metals, Cadmium,Lead. INTRODUCTION Human milk contains optimal amount of carbohydrates, proteins and fats and is best source of nutrition for feeding infants (1).The milk is also an important source of major and trace elements necessary for normal development of infants. Milk powder is one of the important dairy products being used in the preparation of condensed milk, cheese, ice creams, infant milk formula , evaporated milk and as an ingredient in many bakery products. Infant milk formula is considered as nearly complete food and an excellent source of protein, fat and major minerals for the normal growth of infants. During manufacturing of infant milk formula essential elements are added in appropriate quantity in order to meet nutritional requirement (2)). Excess from required quantity of the added elements may be a potential source of danger to health. Therefore, accurate measurement of the concentration of the trace elements in formula is very essential by using sensitive and advanced methods of elemental analysis(3,4,5,6,7) . More than 20 different trace elements are reported in milk and milk products and most of them are essential and very important as a cofactors in many enzymes play important role in many physiological function and deficiency of these elements may produce pathological disorders (3,4). The low concentration of heavy metals such as Pb and Cd leads to metabolic disturbances and causing serious health problems including heart failure, cancer , kidney damage etc. (8,9,10).UNICEF, 1999, emphasize on control and assessment of babies food product᾽s by purpose of their maintaining good health (11). The aim of the present study to test for the presence of toxic heavy metals, Lead and Cd in infant’s milk formulae used in feeding to three years aged infants available in Standard pharmacy stores of Libyan markets through Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry and to compare the results gathered to an existing Egyptian standard as set for allowable amounts of toxic heavy metals for feeding to infants and manufacture of food products .