Department of Consumer Science, Post-graduate program in Food Science and Technology, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE), Pernambuco 52171-900, PE, Brazil.
Department of Foods, Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rio de Janeiro (IFRJ), Rio de Janeiro 20270-021, RJ, Brazil.
Toxins (Basel). 2023 Feb 28;15(3):182. doi: 10.3390/toxins15030182.
Cheese is one of the most susceptible dairy foods to accumulating aflatoxins due to their high affinity to caseins. The consumption of cheese contaminated with high levels of aflatoxin M (AFM) can be highly harmful to humans. The present work, based on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), highlights the frequency and levels of AFM in coalho and mozzarella cheese samples ( = 28) from the main cheese-processing plants in Araripe Sertão and Agreste in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. Of the evaluated cheeses, 14 samples were artisanal cheeses and the remaining 14 were industrial (manufactured) cheeses. All samples (100%) had detectable levels of AFM, with concentrations ranging from 0.026 to 0.132 µg/kg. Higher levels ( < 0.05) of AFM were observed in artisanal mozzarella cheeses, but none of the cheese samples exceed the maximum permissible limits (MPLs) of 2.5 µg/kg established for AFM in cheese in Brazil and 0.25 µg/kg in the European countries by the European Union (EU). The high incidence of low levels of AFM found in the evaluated cheeses underscores the need for stringent control measures to prevent this mycotoxin in milk used for cheese production in the study area, with the aim of protecting public health and reducing significant economic losses for producers.
奶酪是最容易积累黄曲霉毒素的乳制品之一，因为它们与酪蛋白有很高的亲和力。食用含有高水平黄曲霉毒素 M（AFM）的奶酪对人类可能是非常有害的。本研究基于高效液相色谱（HPLC），重点研究了巴西伯南布哥州阿雷里皮塞塔诺和阿格雷斯特主要奶酪加工厂生产的煤球和马苏里拉奶酪样品（n=28）中 AFM 的频率和水平。在所评估的奶酪中，有 14 个是手工奶酪，其余 14 个是工业（制造）奶酪。所有样品（100%）都检测到 AFM 的存在，浓度范围为 0.026 至 0.132 µg/kg。在手工制作的马苏里拉奶酪中观察到更高水平（<0.05）的 AFM，但没有一个奶酪样品超过巴西和欧盟（EU）对奶酪中 AFM 规定的 2.5 µg/kg 的最大允许限量（MPL）和 0.25 µg/kg。在所评估的奶酪中发现的低水平 AFM 的高发生率强调了需要采取严格的控制措施来防止该霉菌毒素进入研究区域用于奶酪生产的牛奶中，以保护公众健康并减少生产者的重大经济损失。
