Aflatoxin M1 contamination of cow’s raw milk in different seasons from Qazvin province, Iran

Aflatoxins are extremely teratogenic, mutagenic, toxic, and carcinogenic compounds. In the present study, 60 cow’s raw milk samples were collected from Qazvin province, Iran during Dec 2015 till July 2016. Enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA) was applied to determine Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in the milk samples. AFM1 was detected in 34 raw milk samples ranging from 6.25×10-3 to 127.87×10-3 (part per billion). AFM1 contents in all positive samples were far below the US legal limit (0.5 ppb), but AFM1 in30% of the raw milk samples exceeded the EU legal limit (0.05) and 5% of the samples exceeded the Iran legal limit (0.1 ppb). This study indicates a high occurrence of AFM1 in cow’s raw milk especially in winter (40.71×10- 3ppb) but the level of contamination were not significantly different in various seasons (P