The best substitutes for breast milk are industrially customized milk formulations. There is a huge range of products on the market from universal to specially customizedmilk formulations with the appropriate label for babies with health concerns. The degree of modification distinguishes initial, sequential, and dairy formulations for nutrition after 12 months of age.Each of them is with relevant age-adjusted composition labeled with packages 1, 2 and 3. The rise of industrialization, urbanization, natural disasters, climate change, and the fact that modern life cannot be imagined without agro-chemicals, pharmaceuticals, paints, plastics leads to the daily increase of chemical agents in the environment. Of particular concern is the presence of heavy metals. Some of them such as zinc, manganese, copper as trace elements are necessary for the metabolic functions of the human body, while lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury are toxic.Infants and young children are more sensitive to toxic heavy metals due to their higher absorption than adults. The aim of this paper is to show the specific concentrations of zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), cadmium, (Cd), arsenic (As) and mercury (Hg) in customized milk formulations for infants and young children present on the market or imported in the Republic of North Macedonia, which will be an indicator of the safety or insecurity of this food. Analyzes were made on data from 61 analyzed cow's milk formulations intended for infants and young children by age as initial - labeled 1, sequential - labeled 2, milk formulations numbered 3 and milk formulations with appropriate label designated for infants with health issues. A descriptive method for the period of 5 years from 2014 - 2018 was used to collect the data from the analyzes of Zn, Mn, Cu, Pb, Cd, As and Hg in the customized milk formulations. The technique used to determine heavy metals is AAS - Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. For the determination of Mn, Cu, Pb, Cd, As the ETAAS-Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry technique was used, FAAS-Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry was used for the determination of Zn, Hg was determined by CVAAS -cold vapors using a continuous injection mercury system.The Cu content of two customized milk formulations -initialand sequentialis 1.5 mg/kg(l) and is within the MAC but does not exceed the maximum value. The content of Pb in a customized milk formulation - initialis 0.02 mg/kg(l) and is within the MAC but does not exceed the maximum value. According to the mean value of the essential metals, Zn, then Cu, and Mn are the most common. According to the results, from the analysis of the samples performed in the Institute of Public Health of the Republic of North Macedonia it can be concluded that no metal exceeds the Maximum Allowed Concentrations and is in compliance with the regulations of the Republic of North Macedonia, thus confirming their safety.
A simple and efficient approach for preconcentration of some heavy metals in cosmetic products before their determinations by flame atomic absorption spectrometry
