Aflatoxin M1 in Serbia: A systematic review of occurrence and exposure assessment - an update

Abstract

Milk is a highly nutritious diet for all age groups including YOPI (young, old, pregnant and immune suppressed) patients, because it contains numerous important nutrients such as proteins, vitamins, and minerals. On the other hand, contamination of milk is considered as one of the major public health problems, which mainly arises due to aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) contamination, recently reported in our region. Hence, the main objectives of this study were to evaluate the prevalence and possible trends of AFM1 contamination of milk and milk products reported between 2007 and 2016 in Serbia, and to compare collected results with similar research in neighboring countries since aflatoxin crisis has broken in order to identify the predisposing factors for AFM1 contamination. In addition, this paper gives an evaluation of potential public health risk due to consumption of AFM1 contaminated milk.