摘要：The aim of this current study was to investigate the presence and to determine the contents of caffeine, preservatives and antioxidants in dairy products available in Bangladesh, one of the alarming countries in terms of food security. As high as 41 marketed dairy products, of both locally and internationally manufactured, were collected from local markets of Dhaka, Bangladesh in mid–2013 and then analyzed using an RP–HPLC method to determine the contents of caffeine, benzoic acid, propylparaben, butylparaben, butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene. The evaluation was performed using a C18 column (150 mm × 4.6 mm i.d., 5 μm particle size) with a gradient flow rate of acetonitrile and diluted sulfuric acid (0.002 M) as mobile phase from ratio 15:85 to 80:20 (%v/v) at a flow rate of 2.0 ml/min at 265 nm. The retention times of CF, BA, PP, BP, BHA and BHT were found about 3.6, 11.6, 13.0, 13.3, 13.6 and 16.7 min, respectively. Results revealed that BA was found in 17.1 % of the products within the concentration range of 11 ~ 2067 mg/L; among these, 42.9 % products exceeded the allowable limit of 300 mg/L set by JECFA. Moreover, 14.6 % products showed positive response to CF at a concentration of 10 ~ 18 mg/L, which was well below the tolerance limit (<200 mg/L) set by FDA. However, none of these investigated dairy products were found to contain any detectable amount of PP, BP, BHA or BHT. Presence of excess amount of BA in dairy products, which are one of the most favorite healthy food items for all generations, can easily jeopardize public health sector. Moreover, CF was found in some CF–free products, which is also an alarming issue to be considered seriously to prevent the future occurrence of it.
