A study on the occurrence of aflatoxin M1 in Iranian Feta cheese

This study was undertaken to determine the presence and levels of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in cheeses produced by different plants in the province of Tehran. For this purpose, a total of 80 cheese samples analyzed, and thin layer chromatography (TLC) was used to determine the presence and levels of AFM1.AFM1 was found in 82.5% of 80 of the cheese samples examined. The range of contamination levels varied among different months. AFM1 in May, August, November, February samples ranged from 0.17 to 1.30, 0.15 to 2.41, 0.16 to 1.11, and 0.19 to 2.05 μg/kg, respectively, while the mean values were 0.41, 0.35, 0.36, and 0.52 μg/kg, respectively.The highest mean concentration of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) was registered in February samples (0.52 μg/kg). The lowest mean concentration of aflatoxin M1 was registered in August samples (0.35 μg/kg).Statistical evaluation showed that there were not significant differences (P > 0.05) between the concentrations of AFM1 of cheese samples taken in May and August with November and February. In other words, AFM1 contents of cheese samples taken in November and August were not lower than cheese samples taken in May and February. Almost 60.6% of the contaminated samples exceeded the maximum acceptable levels (0.25 μg/kg) that accepted by some of the countries such as Turkey.It was therefore concluded that, high occurrence of AFM1 in cheese samples were considered to be possible hazards for human health.