TITLE:
Aflatoxin M1 Contamination of Milk and Its Products in Bomet County, Kenya
AUTHORS:
Gladys Langat, Matsusawa Tetsuhiro, Tohru Gonoi, Vivienne Matiru, Christine Bii
KEYWORDS:
Aflatoxin M1, ELISA, Milk, Products, Bomet
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Microbiology,
Vol.6 No.7,
June
27,
2016
ABSTRACT: Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is a major carcinogenic compound that may be found in
milk and dairy products resulting from ingestion of aflatoxin B1 by dairy
animals. The study aimed at determining the level of aflatoxin M1 in milk and
milk products from Bomet County. A total of 185 samples (150 raw milk and 35 processed milk and milk products) were randomly
collected from milk collection sites
and randomly selected milk kiosks respectively. The AFM1 was analyzed using a commercial ELISA kit (Ridascreen, aflatoxin M1
R-Biopharm, Product code, R5812, Darmstadt, Germany). Out of 185 samples
investigated, 156 samples were positive for AFM1, an overall contamination rate
of 84.32%. The samples with levels higher than the tolerance limit of 0.05 μg/l
recommended by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health
Organization (WHO) limits were 43.8% mainly contributed by the raw milk
compared to processed milk (52.0% versus 8.6%). Processed milk had
insignificant level of contamination with aflatoxin M1 (Median 0.00 (IQR: 0.00,
0.00 μg/l) with a minimum of 0.00 μg/l and a maximum of 0.69 μg/l. Raw milk showed
significant contamination, median 0.09 (IQR: 0.00, 0.50) μg/l with a minimum of
0.00 μg/l and a maximum of 2.93 μg/l. Although there was no significant
differences in AFM1 levels with study sites (P = 0.217); the median levels of
aflatoxin M1 was high in sites 1, 3, and 7. The sites that had median aflatoxin
M1 levels below the WHO/FAO acceptable limits of 0.05 μg/l were sites 2, 4 and
6. Due to high incidence of AFM1 contamination of milk and milk samples in
Bomet County, there is need for regular monitoring and regulation of AFM1
contamination in milk and its products in the County.