Investigation of amount of Aflatoxin M1 in milk samples of Gilan dairy factories by ELISA method

Aflatoxin M1 is the metabolite of aflatoxin B1 and is found in milk when lacteal animals are fed with contaminated feedstuff. The presence of aflatoxin M1 in milk causes major disorders for humans. It can have immunosuppressive, mutagenic, teratogenic and carcinogenic effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of aflatoxin M1 in milk of dairy factories of Gilan in 2012. One hundred sample milk of 5 dairy factories of Gilan were prepared. Five samples were collected randomly from each dairy factory in each season of 2012. Then samples were examined for aflatoxin M1 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Between these 100 milk samples only 11 samples had contamination less than the limit level of codex(50ng/l). Winter samples with an average 138ng/l and summer samples with an average 70.92ng/l had the most and the least amount of contamination respectively. Between these 5 factories, factories (B) and (D) with yearly average of 135.15 and 60.90ng/l had the most and the least amount of contamination, respectively. The results showed that several samples had over the limit contamination. Serious disorders for public health exist from milk consumption. Thus, milk and milk products have to be controlled periodically for aflatoxin M1 contamination. Also, animal feeds should be stored in such a way that they do not become contaminated. Therefore controlling feed mold pollution is the best method for the prevention of milk and its products being polluted by aflatoxins.