aflatoxin m1 contamination in industrial and traditional yogurts produced in iran

Background: aflatoxin m1 (afm1) is a major carcinogenic compound that may be existed in milk and dairy products. this study was aimed to determine the presence of afm1 in in- dustrial and traditional yogurt samples produced in iran. methods: a total of 80 yogurt samples (40 industrial, 40 traditional) was collected from su- permarkets in yazd city, iran. afm1 content of the selected samples was determined by en- zyme linked immunesorbent assay (elisa). results: analysis of the data indicated that 96.25% of the yogurt samples were contaminat- ed with afm1 in concentration levels ranging from ˂5 to 91 ng/kg. the afm1 content of 5% of the samples was higher than the limit accepted by european union (50 ng/kg). the mean concentration of afm1 in traditional yogurt (33.6 ng/kg) was significantly (p<0.05) higher than industrial ones (24.55 ng/kg). conclusion: high level of afm1 contamination of yogurt produced in iran could be a seri- ous risk for the public health.