Abstract
Milk adulteration leads to the contamination of milk, and it can pose serious health hazards to humans. It may contaminate the milk with organics, heavy metals, and pathogens. The existing treatment methods such as thermal treatment of milk have certain limitations, such as it initiates thermal reactions that may lead to protein denaturation, non-enzymatic browning, and loss of milk quality. Therefore, in a current investigation, the authors for the first time proposed a novel innovative solution to decontaminate the milk from pathogens and toxic metals (Cd, Pb, and Cr) by implying a catalytic ozonation process using Fe-zeolite-4A (Fe-Z4A) as a catalyst. In this method, a synergistic O-3/Fe-Ze4A process was found to be highly efficient for removing toxic metals (Cd, Pb, and Cr) and faecal coliforms from milk. It was found that 100% removal efficiency was achieved for the above-mentioned contaminants in 20 min of reaction time with O-3 0.9 mg/min and catalyst dose of 5 g, respectively. Therefore, it is suggested that the O-3/Fe-Ze4A based catalytic ozonation process may be utilized to purify milk at household levels.