Three brands of infant fonnulas (n = 3) and 618 cow's whole milk samples from four differentrnfamls, which supply milk to Addis Ababa, were analyzed for various essential (Ca, Mg Fe, andrnZn) and non-essential (Cd, Ni, Pb, and TI) nutrients, fat and protein levels. Known weights ofrnpowdered infant fonnulas or freeze dried cow's whole milk samples were digested with 3.5 mLrnHNO) and 2.0 mL HeIO" on a hot plate for 4:30 h. The contents of nutri ents in the digests werernthen analyzed employing standard methods. The fo llowing mean levels were recorded in cow'srnwhole milk: Ca (mglL) 1600; Mg (mglL) 65; Fe (mglL) 1.25; Zn (mglL) 5.33; Cd (mglL) 0. 18;rnNi (mglL) 1.27; Pb (mglL) 2.63; TI (mglL) 2.15; rat 3.7% (111/m); protein 3.2% (m/m). The datarnfor the mineral concentrations in cow's whole mi lk were found within normal interva ls describedrnin the literature. The three infant fomlUla brands analyzed in this study generally showed lowrnnu tri tional contents when compared with the recommended dietary allowances (RDA) for usc inrnNorth America. The observed values of the ana lyzed non-essenti al elements were below therndrinking water maximum admissible concentrat ions for the infa nt fomlU las. However,rnsignificantly higher concentrations of these clements were observed in the cow's whole milk. Anrnimportant contribution to the daily intake of calcium for Addis Ababa population due to thernconsumption of cow's whole milk was observed. The accuracy of ana lyl ical results was checkedrnby analyzing the NIST reference material SRM 8435 (whole milk powder) and good agreementrnwas achieved with certi fi ed values.