APPLICATION OF IMMUNOAFFINITY COLUMN CLEANUP TO AFLATOXIN M(1) DETERMINATION AND SURVEY IN CHEESE

Milk products such as cheeses may be contaminated by aflatoxin M(1) wh en manufactured with milk from dairy cattle that have consumed aflatox in B-1-contaminated feeds. The usefulness of immunoaffinity columns to determine aflatoxin M(1) content in many kinds of cheeses with very g ood recoveries is demonstrated. The analysis of aflatoxin M(1) in a 19 90 to 1995 limited survey in France shows that the occurrence of this mycotoxin in cheeses is rather infrequent. With the exception of sampl es from 1989 to 1990 when aflatoxin B-1-contaminated maize meals were incidentally imported to supplement dairy cattle feed, very few sample s were found with above 0.200 mu g of aflatoxin M(1) per kg of cheese, the maximum acceptable level.