Exposure Assessment and Risk Characterization of Aflatoxin M1 Intake Through Consumption of Milk by General Population in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Preliminary Study
Aflatoxins M1 and M2 are the hydroxylated metabolites of aflatoxins B1 and B2 and can be found in milk or milk products. The aim of this study was to obtain the exposure and health risk assessment of this toxin in raw milk using a selection of existing test results of different periods in a different region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. For AFM1 intake assessment, the data available from the report of Pre-Accession Assistance To Agriculture And Rural Development Sector Analyses in Bosnia and Herzegovina was used. For the concentration of the aflatoxin M1 in raw milk, the data of the previous studies and unpublished data from the Laboratory of Toxicological Chemistry Faculty of the Pharmacy University of Sarajevo were used. Risk characterization was performed by calculating the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) incidence per year for four exposure scenario. The results indicated that the average estimated daily intake of aflatoxin M1 was 0.049 ng/kg body weight (bw) per day. The risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (cases/year/100 000 individuals), depending on the HBsAg prevalence, was relatively low (average 0.0000640.000074 cases/year/100 000). It is concluded that in recent years, the carcinogenic risk of aflatoxin M1 has been low and not critical in Bosnia and Herzegovina.