Assessment of AflatoxinM1 Contamination in UHT Flavored Milk Samples in Karaj, Iran

This study was carried out to detect the presence of aflatoxin M₁ (AFM₁) in 30 UHT flavored milk samples in Karaj, Alborz province, Iran. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was applied to analyze AFM₁ in the samples. The results showed that aflatoxin M₁ was detected in all the UHT flavored milk samples, the AFM₁ concentration ranged from 0.015 to 0.14 µg/L. Also, 10 samples (33.3%) were contaminated with more than 0.05 µg/L of European Union regulations for aflatoxin M₁. Wherease, according to the proposed Iranian national standard and FDA (0.5 µg/L), none of the samples has not been contaminated more than the maximum AFM₁ concentrations threshold. This is the first report discovering the fact that UHT flavored milk is an important contributor to the dietary intake of AFM₁ in Iran.