Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences (DIVAS), Università degli Studi di Milano, 26900 Lodi, Italy.
Associazione Regionale Allevatori della Lombardia (ARAL), 26013 Crema, Italy.
Toxins (Basel). 2023 Feb 21;15(3):168. doi: 10.3390/toxins15030168.
Aflatoxins (AFs) are fungal metabolites that are found in feed and food. When ruminants eat feed contaminated with aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), it is metabolised and aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is excreted in the milk. Aflatoxins can result in hepatotoxic, carcinogenic, and immunosuppressive effects. The European Union thus set a low threshold limit (50 ng/L) for presence of AFM1 in milk. This was in view of its possible presence also in dairy products and that quantification of these toxins is mandatory for milk suppliers. In the present study, a total of 95,882 samples of whole raw milk, collected in northern Italy between 2013 and 2021, were evaluated for presence of AFM1 using an ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) method. The study also evaluated the relationship between feed materials collected from the same farms in the same area during the same period (2013-2021) and milk contamination. Only 667 milk samples out of 95,882 samples analysed (0.7%) showed AFM1 values higher than the EU threshold limit of 50 ng/L. A total of 390 samples (0.4%) showed values between 40 and 50 ng/L, thus requiring corrective action despite not surpassing the regulatory threshold. Combining feed contamination and milk contamination data, some feedingstuffs seem to be more effective in defying potential carryover of AFs from feed to milk. Combining the results, it can be concluded that a robust monitoring system that covers both feed, with a special focus on high risk/sentinel matrices, and milk is essential to guarantee high quality and safety standards of dairy products.
黄曲霉毒素（AFs）是真菌代谢物，存在于饲料和食物中。当反刍动物食用受黄曲霉毒素 B1（AFB1）污染的饲料时，它会被代谢，黄曲霉毒素 M1（AFM1）会被排泄到牛奶中。黄曲霉毒素会导致肝毒性、致癌和免疫抑制作用。因此，欧盟为牛奶中 AFM1 的存在设定了一个低阈值（50ng/L）。这是因为它也可能存在于乳制品中，而且对这些毒素进行定量是牛奶供应商的强制性要求。在本研究中，使用 ELISA（酶联免疫吸附测定）方法对 2013 年至 2021 年期间在意大利北部采集的 95882 份全牛乳原始样本进行了 AFM1 的存在情况评估。该研究还评估了同一地区同一时期（2013-2021 年）从同一农场采集的饲料材料与牛奶污染之间的关系。在分析的 95882 个样本中，只有 667 个样本（0.7%）的 AFM1 值高于欧盟 50ng/L 的阈值限制。共有 390 个样本（0.4%）的值在 40-50ng/L 之间，因此需要采取纠正措施，尽管没有超过监管阈值。将饲料污染和牛奶污染数据结合起来，可以看出一些饲料似乎更能有效地防止黄曲霉毒素从饲料转移到牛奶中。综合这些结果可以得出结论，建立一个涵盖饲料和牛奶的强大监测系统，特别关注高风险/监测矩阵，对于保证乳制品的高质量和安全性标准至关重要。
