The occurrence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in animal feed and aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in raw milk was evaluated in dairy farms located in the Northeast region of São Paulo state, Brazil, from October 2005 to February 2006. The Aflatoxin analysis was performed using immunoaffinity clean-up with high performance liquid chromatography for quantification. AFB1 was found in 40% of the animal feeds at the levels of 1.0 to 19.5 μg.kg-1. The concentration of AFM1 in raw milk (36.7%) ranged from 0.010 to 0.645 μg.L-1. Only one single sample of raw milk presented values above the tolerance limit adopted in Brazil (0.5 μg.L-1) for AFM1. In conclusion, the concentrations of aflatoxins in the animal feed and milk samples studied were relatively low although the high frequency of mycotoxins in the both analysed samples indicates the necessity of continuous monitoring in order to prevent mycotoxin contamination of animal feed ingredients for dairy cattle.
mycotoxins; residues; occurrence
