A practical technique for pretreatment and analytical methods suitable for the determination of mineral components in milk has developed using wet ashing coupled with flame emission, atomic absorption, ICP and colorimetric methods, The major elements Na, K, Mg, Ca and P were well determined using a 0.1ml milk sample which was decomposed with nitric acid. Ten milliliters of milk was digested with nitric acid and/or mixed acid systems (HNO3-H2SO4 and HNO3-H2SO4-HClO4) for the trace elements Fe, Cu, Zn and Sr. Sulfuric acid and perchloric acid gave precipitates CaSO4 and KClO4, respectively, resulting in lower values of Ca and K. The mineral composition of cow, human and giraffe milk and the mammary gland secretion of the giant panda was tabulated.
