Incidence of Aflatoxin M1 in Human and Cow Milk in Kashan, Iran

Background: It is known that Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) contamination in milk can have carcinogenic, teratogenic, and mutagenic activities especially in liver for both children and adults. The main aim of this survey was to investigate the incidence of AFM1 in human and cow milk in Kashan, Iran. Methods: A total of 42 breast milk samples were collected from a central hospital in Kashan city during 3-month period from October to December 2012. In the same period of times, 48 cow raw milk samples were collected randomly from Kashan milk collection centers. Determination of AFM1 in samples was carried out by competitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 16.0. Results: All human and cow milk samples were contaminated with AFM1. Concentrations of AFM1 in all human breast milk samples were less than the maximum tolerance limit (25 ng/L) accepted by European unio‎n (EU). In 20.83% raw milk samples, the level of AFM1 was greater than the maximum tolerance limit (50 ng/L) according to EU. Mean AFM1 concentration in cow milk samples was significantly (p<0.01) higher than that of human milk samples. Conclusion: Comparing to the previous Iranian studies, although the present status of AFM1 in human and cow milk samples from Kashan city of Iran is not at high risk, but this finding dose not ignore the vital importance of exposure risk to this toxin in the consumers especially in children. So, protective diet oriented approaches must be considered by the local authorities. Also, the people must be educated by the government on public health risk of AFs.