investigating the causes of disagreement regarding the levels of aflatoxin m1 contamination of milk produced in iran: a literature review

Aflatoxin m1 (afm1) is a potent human carcinogen introduced into the human diet through milk consumption. the presence of aflatoxin b1 in livestock feed can result in the production of afm1. best practice should be used to achieve the lowest possible aflatoxin levels in milk. the codex and u.s.fda have set a maximum level of 0.5 and eu countries 0.050 µg/kg for afm1 in milk. the iranian national standard organization has established a limit value of 0.1 µg/kg for afm1 in milk. this article focuses on the reasons for the disagreement on the levels of afm1 contamination in milk produced in iran. a comprehensive search was performed on databases including, “science direct”, “pubmed”, and “google scholar”, and the national database “sid” from 2022 to 2024 with iran , milk , aflatoxin m1 and cattle key words.1-milk was tested for aflatoxins using either elisa or hplc. the use of elisa method as a screen test assay is reliable, but to verify a positive result, hplc is required.2-risks for hepatocellular carcinoma predicted with use of proposed maximum levels of afm1 of 0.05 (eu standard) and 0.5 (µg/kg) (codex guideline level) were minimal.3-as codex guideline level (gl) is the maximum level of a substance in a food which is recommended by codex to be acceptable for commodities moving in international trade, the level of afm1 in iranian milk samples is significantly lower than the codex gl. 4-in recent years the risks of mycotoxins are focused by veterinarian staff and dairy farms have practical information for control them in feed.methods of aflatoxin m1 analysis and comparison criteria are causes of disagreement in the afm1 level of milk in iran .the level of afm1 in iran seems not to be a serious public health concern.