The overall and variations of Aflatoxin M1 contamination of milk in Iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis study

Abstract

Major databases were searched until January 2019 and 77 eligible studies were included in the meta-analysis to estimate the overall mean of AFM1 in milk in Iran. The mean of AFM1 levels was obtained 55.97 ng/kg (95% CI: 50.09-61.84). However, the pooled estimated mean of AFM1 levels in milk were 94.58 (95% CI: 70.24-118.92), 59.19 (95% CI: 51.84-66.54) and 35.23 ng/kg (95% CI: 31.53-38.92), considering 4, 55 and 18 TLC, ELISA and HPLC-based studies (including 354, 9224 and 2606 samples), respectively. Also, there is a wide variation of AFM1 levels among different geographical regions which were the highest in northern (88.77 ng/kg). The AFM1 contamination of milk taken from the areas with humid climate was higher than the arid climate. AFM1 Levels were the highest in winter (48.70 ng/Kg). The level of AFM1 in pasteurized, raw, and UHT milk were 49.76, 55.08 and 94.81 ng/kg, respectively.

Keywords: Aflatoxin M1; Climate; Iran; Meta-analysis; Milk; Seasons.