Aflatoxins in dairy cow feed, raw milk and milk products from Turkey

This study aims to detect aflatoxins (AFs) in dairy cow feed, milk and milk products using a high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD) method. All the validation parameters met the method performance criteria of the European Union. The samples comprised 76 dairy cow feeds and 205 milk and milk products (including yoghurt and yoghurt-based beverage, ayran). AFs were present in 26.3% of the feed samples. Two feed samples exceeded the maximum limit (ML) of 5 mu gkg(-1) for AFB(1) as established by the EU. Nineteen milk samples (21.1%) contained aflatoxin M-1 (AFM(1)) of which three exceeded the EU ML of 0.05 mu gl(-1). In addition, only two yoghurt samples and one ayran sample contained AFM(1), but the levels were lower than the EU ML.