Occurrence of Aflatoxin B in Baby Foods Marketed in Iran

Background: Aflatoxin B (AFB ), a toxic fungal metabolite that is found in baby foods, can lead to serious complications for children's health. In the present study, 48 commercial baby foods available in the Iranian market were investigated for the presence of AFB using a high performance liquid chromatography system that was equipped with post-column photochemical derivatization and a fluorescence detector.

Results: Thirty-three out of 48 samples (68.7%) were contaminated with AFB at median, maximum and mean concentration levels of 0.11, 15.15 and 2.602 ± 4.065 µg kg , respectively. The AFB concentration in 39.6% of the samples was higher than the maximum level established in Iran for AFB within baby foods containing milk (0.5 µg kg ). The incidence of AFB in rice, wheat and multigrain infant cereal samples was 90%, 25% and 100%, respectively, whereas rice-based baby foods contained the highest levels of AFB .

Conclusion: In the present study, the finding of both high rates and high levels of AFB in cereal baby foods indicates the need to reduce AFB contamination in these products. Therefore, further monitoring and control of pre- and post-harvest, storage, and manufacturing processes is required. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.