Occurrence of Zearalenone in raw animal origin food produced in North-West of Iran

Introduction: zearalenone is a mycotoxin compound produced mainly by the fusarium species offungi which is present in several types of foods. the purpose of this study was to determine thezearalenone in raw animal origin food produced in north-west of iran.materials and methods: from june to december 2012, a total of 210 samples (containing 70 rawmilk, 70 meat and 70 liver) were obtained from female buffaloes in the north-west regions of iran.samples were analyzed by elisa method.results: the zearalenone was found in 92 of the 210 samples (43.80%). significant differences inthe mean values of zearalenone was observed between milk, meat and liver samples (p < 0.05). thehighest mean level of zearalenone was observed in liver samples (2.37±1.18 ng/g), followed bymilk (1.34±1.42 ng/ml) and meat (0.79±1.27 ng/g) samples. the overall contamination rate duringautumn was significantly more than summer (p < 0.05).conclusion: the results of this study indicate that the occurrence of zearalenone contamination inthe buffalo milk, meat and liver samples were low in this region of iran, most probably because ofthe uncontaminated feed given to water buffalo. however, it seems that the most practical way tominimizing mycotoxin production and contamination of the food supply, is the development ofmethods to control their formation, or the development of newer methods to detoxify ordecontaminate the affected food.