Prevalence of aflatoxin m1 in pasteurized and ultra-high temperature (uht) milk marketed in Dar es salaam, Tanzania.

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Date

2021

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Sokoine University of Agriculture.

Abstract

A survey was conducted in year 2020/2021 to establish the levels of aflatoxin M 1 (AFM 1 ) in pasteurized and ultra-heat-treated milk (n=118) and awareness on mycotoxins by milk processors in Kinondoni, Temeke, Ubungo, Ilala and Kigamboni district of Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital of Tanzania. The levels of AFM 1 in pasteurized milk (n=75) and UHT milk (n=43) samples were determined by using immuno-affinity high performance liquid chromatography. AFM 1 was detected in 97% (115/118) of the heat-treated samples. Pasteurized milk and UHT milk samples were contaminated by 96% (72/75) and 100% (43/43), respectively. About 82% of the contaminated pasteurized and UHT had aflatoxin M 1 above the EU acceptable levels (0.05 μg/L) however none of the contaminated pasteurized and UHT milk sample exceed Codex limits of 0.5 μg/L. The observed contamination levels of AFM 1 in heated milk could pose a serious public health problem. Therefore, best practices including regular monitoring of AFM 1 levels in milk and milk products are crucial to protect consumers. Awareness of aflatoxin contamination of milk was assessed by using a cross-sectional descriptive statistic involving 30 milk processors. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire and statistically analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS® Version 27 (2020). Descriptive statistics was used to determine frequencies and percentages of social demographic, knowledge, handling and feeding practices of lactating cow. Cross tabulation was used to determine relationship between knowledge on aflatoxins with age and education level of the respondents. The majority of the respondents (83.3%) were aware of aflatoxins and none (0.0%) of the respondents were aware that milk and milk products could be contaminated with aflatoxins. It was also observed that the cattle feeding practices were poor and were a major reason for AFM 1 contamination of milk. None of the respondents were aware that feeding lactating cow with mouldy feeds could results into AFM 1 contamination of milk. It was observed that, AFM 1 analysis was not carried out in rawiii milk before processing in order to control AFM 1 contamination of milk and milk products. This could be due to lack of knowledge and techniques for detection and analysis of aflatoxins. This study recommended that creation of awareness of aflatoxins and use of best practices along the milk value chain was crucial in order to enhance the safety of consumers.

Description

Masters Dissertation

Keywords

ultra-high Temperature (uht), Dar es salaam, pasteurized, Prevalence, Aflotoxin

Citation