To study the role of
trace elements for the quality and nutritional value of bovine milk, the distributionof selenium, zinc, and copper in whey was investigated using a method linking size exclusionchromatography to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SEC-ICP-MS). Three major peakswere detected for selenium, two peaks for zinc, and five peaks for copper. More than 65% of theselenium was found in
protein fractions, mainly in fractions coinciding with the major whey
proteins
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-lactalbumin. All zinc was associated with low molecular weight compounds(<5 kDa) and one of these compounds was probably citrate. More than 60% of the copper eluted in
protein fractions and two of the five major peaks probably contained metallothionein and citrate. Thismethod was used to compare milk and whey produced by organic and conventional feedingprocedures. The selenium content in whey and desalted milk produced using organic regimens wassignificantly lower than that in conventional samples. Moreover, the proportion of selenium in
proteinfractions of organic whey was significantly smaller than that in conventional whey, but the distributionsof zinc and copper did not differ. This study showed that with the SEC-ICP-MS technique thedistribution profiles of several
trace elements in whey could be studied in the same run and that theselenium profile differed in whey produced by organic and conventional procedures.