The Occurrence and Human Health Risk Assessment of Aflatoxin M1 in Ice Cream Collected From Iranian Market Publisher



Nazari F¹ ; Ebrahimi F¹ ; Nezami A¹ ; Razavi EA¹ ; Kakanj M² ; Mirza Alizadeh A³ ; Hosseini MJ⁴
Source: Mycotoxin Research Published:2025

Abstract

Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1), a mono hydroxylated derivative of aflatoxin B1, can be found in milk and a variety of dairy products. This present study aims to evaluate a selective, accurate, and sensitive method for the determination of AFM1 in ice cream using immunoaffinity column clean-up followed by a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-fluorescence detector and to evaluate the health risk of AFM1 in Iran and to determine the effects of different limit levels on the risk control of AFM1 in ice cream. The HPLC-validated method used for determining of AFM1 in 128 ice cream samples. AFM1 was found in 45 samples (35%) with a mean of 20.73 ± 46.58 ng/kg in the range of 2–350 ng/kg. AFM1 concentration in 12 samples (9.4%) was higher than the maximum permissible level (MPL) set by the European Community and Codex Alimentarius Commission (50 ng/kg), and the level of AFM1 in 4.7% of the samples was higher than the MPL established in Iran for AFM1 (100 ng/kg). In addition, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the exposure assessment of AFM1 by consumption of ice cream by Iranian consumers. The MCS approach revealed that both adults and children have a lower risk of liver cancer due to AFM1 exposure, but children are more exposed to AFM1 compared to adults. © The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Society for Mycotoxin (Research Gesellschaft fur Mykotoxinforschung e.V.) and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025.