Assessment of aflatoxin B1 in animal feed and aflatoxin M1 in raw milk samples of different species of milking animals from Punjab, Pakistan

The research was designed to investigate the amount of aflatoxin B-1 (AFB(1)) in animal feed (corn, wheat bran, peanut cake, soybean meal, and cotton seed meal) and aflatoxin M-1 (AFM(1)) in raw milk of animals (cow milk, buffalo milk, goat milk and sheep milk), from Punjab, Pakistan collected March 2017 till February 2018. The samples were examined with liquid chromatography, with a fluorescence detector. The findings demonstrated that 126 (65.3%) out of 193 samples of animal feed were found positive with AFB(1), and 88 (45.6%) samples have levels higher than 5 mu g/kg; positive samples are those whose levels of AFM(1) >= LOD. The highest average amount of AFB(1) was found in mustard oil cake meal (25.0 +/- 4.5 mu g/kg). Out of 278 samples of milk, 134 (48.2%) were found positive with AFM(1), and 48 (17.3%) samples have levels of AFM(1) higher than the European Union legal limit (i.e., 50 ng/L). The highest mean level of 70.5 +/- 10.5 ng/L was found in raw milk of buffalo. The levels of AFM(1) in milk from the urban region versus suburb region showed a significant difference (at alpha 0.05) except sheep milk samples, which presented a significant difference at alpha 0.01. Samples, 65 (64.4%) out of 140 from the urban region, and 69 (50%) from the suburb region were found positive with AFM(1) in milk samples. The amount of AFB(1) in animal feed and AFM(1) in milk samples are comparatively high and could pose health hazards for local consumers.