Journal of Food Research; Vol. 12, No. 2; 2023 ISSN 1927-0887 E-ISSN 1927-0895 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 23 Occurrence of Aflatoxin M1 and Risk Assessment in Bovine Milk from the Amazon Region Luiz C. G. Diógenes 1 , Ariane M. Kluczkovski 1 , Abrames F. F. Góes 1 , Samir de C. B. Pinto 1 , Claudio F. Araújo 1 & Augusto Kluczkovski-Junior 2 1 Federal University of Amazonas, Av. Gen. Rodrigo Otavio, J. Ramos, 6200, Manaus, AM, Brazil 2 Amazonas Surveillance Foundation, FVS-AM. Av. Torquato Tapajós, 4010, Manaus, AM, Brazil Correspondence: Ariane M. Kluczkovski, Federal University of Amazonas, Manaus, AM, Brazil. Tel: 55-92-3305-1480. E-mail: ariane@ufam.edu.br Received: February 13, 2023 Accepted: March 23, 2023 Online Published: March 26, 2023 doi:10.5539/jfr.v12n2p23 URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/jfr.v12n2p23 Abstract Aflatoxins (AFL) are fungal metabolites that can contaminate animal feed, causing toxic effects after consumption. Among the AFL, there are reports of the occurrence of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in milk, so the objective of this work was to evaluate the AFM1 content in bovine milk samples produced in the State of Amazonas-Brazil. Of the analyzed samples (n=30), 20% were found to be contaminated with AFM1 in the range of 0.093-0.320 μg/kg (Limit of detection= 0.0625 μg/mL). No sample exceeded current Brazilian legislation, but all exceeded the maximum European regulatory limit of 0.05 μg/kg. Risk analysis estimated a daily intake of 5.357 x 10 -7 mg/kg body weight/day for men and 6.257 x 10 -7 mg/kg body weight/day for women. The MOE result did not indicate concern in public health aspects. On the other hand, the occurrence of AFM1 in the state of Amazonas was observed in an unprecedented way and need further investigation including other dairy products. Keywords: animal feed, mycotoxin, margin of exposure 1. Introduction Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by fungi that can affect the food production chain, and represent a danger to public health, as they are carcinogenic substances that can cause economic losses (Alshannaq & Yu, 2017; Yang et al., 2020). In this context, studies on the occurrence of mycotoxins are important for defining public policies and mitigation actions. The occurrence of toxigenic fungi and mycotoxin production occurs on a global scale and may be associated with poor practices, inadequate technologies, storage and transport conditions involved in production. Some foods such as tree nuts, fruits, cereals and feed are susceptible to contamination by mycotoxins and in this context aflatoxins (AFL) are intensively studied. AFL are produced by fungi, mainly Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus species (Agriopoulou et al., 2020; Pankaj et al., 2018). In mammals, ingestion of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) leads to its hydroxylation and production of the metabolite aflatoxin M1 (AFM1), which can be excreted in the mammary glands of lactating animals or through the urine (Hasninia et al., 2022; Kortei et al., 2022). Milk is an important source of macro and micronutrients and is one of the six most important products in Brazilian agriculture, playing an important role in food, source of income and job creation, with the state of Amazonas-Brazil acquiring 9536 liters in the year 2020 and produced 43,768 thousand liters in 2021 (IBGE, 2022; IBGE, 2020; Gonçalves et al., 2018). Studies evaluating the occurrence of AFM1 in bovine milk in its various forms (whole, skimmed, semi-skimmed, liquid and powder) have been carried out in several countries such as Malaysia and China (Li et al., 2017; Shuib et al., 2017) and also in Brazil, especially in the southern region (de Freitas et al., 2018). Based on the cited studies, the need to assess the occurrence of AFM1 in milk is a global need (Min et al., 2020). According to Sirma et al. (2018) the incidence of contamination of milk and its products by AFM1 is higher in developing countries due to their lower regulatory standards. Considering that in Brazil, especially in the North region, there is little data on contamination by AFM1 in food, the objective of this work is to contribute with data in the analysis of risk of consumption in the population and preventing how much to the occurrence of diseases caused by AFL.