en Public Health Public Health پژوهشي Original Article <div><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="line-height:normal"><b><span style="color:black">Background</span></b><span style="color:black">: The contamination of food with heavy metals is a significant concern for humans. Among food products, milk and dairy products have received more attention due to their widespread consumption at all ages, particularly among children. The aim of this study is to determine the concentration of lead and cadmium in milk and dairy products in Zanjan.</span></span><br> <span style="line-height:normal"><b><span style="color:black">Methods</span></b><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span style="color:black">:</span></span><span style="color:black"> 132 samples of milk, doogh, yogurt, and cream were collected from Zanjan city during the winter and summer of 2020-2021. The lead and cadmium levels in the samples were quantified using microwave digestion and graffiti furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry.</span></span><br> <span style="line-height:normal"><b><span style="color:black">Results:</span></b><span style="color:black"> The average concentrations of lead and cadmium in traditional milk, industrial milk, doogh, full-fat yogurt, low-fat yogurt, and cream samples were 96.23, 89.91, 78.79, 49.79, 53.74, 106.08, and 2.76, 2.07, 2.59, 1.09, 1.34, 5.60 &micro;g/kg, respectively. The mean lead concentrations in milk and dairy products during winter were significantly higher than those during summer, whereas the mean cadmium concentrations during summer were higher than those during winter for all dairy products.</span></span><br> <span style="line-height:normal"><b><span style="color:black">Conclusion</span></b><span style="color:black">: The lead and cadmium concentrations in most of the samples exceeded the WHO-FAO standards of 20 and 2.6 &micro;g/kg for lead and cadmium, respectively. Therefore, prompt action is necessary to address this issue.</span></span></span></span></div> Milk and dairy products, Lead, Cadmium, Zanjan, Heavy metal, 210 215 http://jhehp.zums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-102-5&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Zohre Farahmandkia zfarahmand@zums.ac.ir 100319475328460013371 100319475328460013371 Yes Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran. Rezgar Feizolahi Rezgar.feizolahi@gmail.com 100319475328460013372 100319475328460013372 No Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran. Mohammad Reza Mehrasbi mehrasbi@yahoo.com 100319475328460013373 100319475328460013373 No Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran. Mazyar Peyda Mazyarpeyda@yahoo.com 100319475328460013374 100319475328460013374 No Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran.