Aflatoxin levels and exposure assessment of Spanish infant cereals

Aflatoxins (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2) are immunosuppressant, mutagenic, teratogenic and carcinogenic agents with a widespread presence in foodstuffs. Since human exposure to aflatoxins occurs primarily by contaminated food intake, and given the greater susceptibility of infants to their adverse effects, the quantification of these mycotoxins in infant food based on cereals is of relevance. Aflatoxins levels were determined in ninety- one Spanish infant cereals classified in terms of non- and organically produced and several types from ten different manufactures, using a extraction procedure followed by inmunoaffinity column clean-up step and High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection (FLD) and post-column derivatization (Kobra Cell system). Daily aflatoxin intake was also assessed. The preliminary analysis revealed a noticeable detected infant cereal samples for total aflatoxin (81 %), corresponding to a 64 %, 39 %, 65 % and 43 % for AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2. Lower aflatoxin values (median, Q1;Q3) in conventional infant cereal (n=74, AFB1: <LOD (n.d.;0.019), AFB2: n.d. (n.d;0.011), AFG1: <LOD (n.d.;0.004), and AFG2: n.d. (n.d.;<LOD) and AFtotal: 0.014 (