Occurrence of Aflatoxin M1 in Milk at Sindh Province, Pakistan
Occurrence of Aflatoxin M1 in Milk at Sindh Province, Pakistan
Deepesh Kumar Bhuptani1, Atta Hussain Shah1*, Gul Bahar Khaskheli1, Zubair Ahmed Laghari2, Ghulam Shabir Bahram1, Muneer Ahmed Jamali1, Tarique Ahmed Khokhar1
ABSTRACT
Among various disease-causing agents, fungi has remained prominent making foods unsafe and insecure. Food and feed contamination by mycotoxins are among key factors creating food insecurity. There are various forms of aflatoxin (AF) occurring in foods of plant origin (B1, B2, G1, and G2) and animal origin (M1 and M2). Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is a geno-toxic carcinogen and is less lethal but it is still cytotoxic. The present study was conducted on prevalence and quantification of AFM1 in raw buffalo milk in Sindh province. A total of three hundred and fifteen raw milk samples (n=315) from dairy farms of three regions in Sindh province i.e., southern (Karachi, Thatta, Hyderabad), central (Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, Shaheed Benazirabad) and northern (Naushahro Feroze, Sukkur and Larkana) were collected and analyzed using commercial ELISA kit. The results revealed that AFM1 was statistically higher (P˂0.05) in district Karachi (0.7223 µg/L) as compared to Thatta and Hyderabad (0.5897 µg/L and 0.5697 µg/L, respectively) than FDA limit (0.5 μg/L) however, it was found relatively similar (P>0.05) in Hyderabad and Thatta districts of Southern zone. In central zone, numerically AFM1 load was high (P>0.05) in samples of district Mirpurkhas (0.5306 µg/L) followed by Umerkot (0.5271 µg/L) and Shaheed Benazirabad (0.4966 µg/L). In northern zone, Naushahro Feroze and Sukkur (0.5294 µg/L and 0.5257 µg/L, respectively) also exhibited numerically high (P>0.05) AFM1 level than Larkana (0.4951 µg/L) district. Based on current results it was concluded that milk samples throughout the Sindh province were contaminated with AFM1 and further Karachi province was on top in contamination.
Keywords | Aflatoxin; Contamination; Milk; Prevalence; Quantification; Sindh
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