Occurrence, dietary exposure, and risk assessment of aflatoxins in wheat flour from Iran

This study was performed to determine the concentration and assess the risk of aflatoxins (AFs) i.e. aflatoxin B-1 (AFB(1)), B-2 (AFB(2)), G(1) (AFG(1)), and G(2) (AFG(2)) in wheat whole and refined flour samples for Iranian adults. Sixty-five (60.19%) out of 108 analysed samples were positive for AFB(1) and total AFs (AFB(1)+ AFB(2)+ AFG(1)+ AFG(2)). The range of AFB(1) and the total AFs in samples were 0.14-7.34 and 0.34-7.61 mu g kg(-1), respectively. While, their means were 1.70 +/- 0.22 and 2.15 +/- 0.23, respectively. AFB(1) level in 7 (6.48%) samples exceeded maximum limits allowed according to Iran standard (5 mu g kg(-1)) while all samples had total AFs at an acceptable level (15 mu g kg(-1)). The incidence and concentration of AFs in wheat whole flour samples were higher than that of refined flour one. The estimated daily intake (EDI), the margin of exposure (MOE), hepatocellular cancer risk of AFB(1) through flour samples were 0.004 mu g kg(-1) bw day(-1), 108.74 and 4.12 cases per 100,000 individuals/75 years, respectively. As EDI was more than the suggested value of 0.017 ng kg(-1) bw day(-1) and hepatocellular cancer risk was higher than the recommended level of 0.1 cases/75 years/100,000 individuals and MOE >10,000, it could be concluded AFs level in flour samples had a health potential risk to human health.