Distribution and stability of aflatoxin M-1 during processing, ripening and storage of Telemes cheese

Telemes cheeses were produced using milk that was artificially-contaminated with aflatoxin M-1 at the levels of 0.050 and 0.100 mug/l. The cheeses pro duced in the two cheese-making trials were allowed to ripen for 2 months an d stored for an addition al 4 months to simulate commercial production of T elemes cheese. Concentrations of aflatoxin M-1 in whey, curd, brine, and th e produced cheeses were determined at intervals by liquid chromatography an d fluorometric detection coupled with immunoaffinity column extraction. Con centrations of aflatoxin M-1 in the produced curds were found to be 3.9 and 4. 4 times higher than those in milk, whereas concentrations in whey were lower than those in curd and milk. Aflatoxin M-1 was present in cheese at h igher concentrations at the beginning than at the end of the ripening/stora ge period, and it declined to concentrations 2.7 and 3.4 times higher than those initially present in milk by the end of the sixth month of storage. C oncentrations of aflatoxin M-1 in brine started low and increased by the en d of the ripening/storage period but only a portion of the amounts of aflat oxin M-1 lost from cheese was found in the brine. Results showed that Telem es cheeses produced from milk containing aflatoxin M-1 at a concentration c lose to either the maxim um acceptable level of 0.05 mug/l set by the Europ ean union (EU) or at double this value, will contain the toxin at a level t hat is much lower or slightly higher, respectively, than the maximum accept able level of 0.250 mug of aflatoxin M-1/kg cheese set by some countries.