ABSTRACT
Aflatoxins are fungal toxins that have carcinogenic, cellular mutations and malformation effects. Aflatoxin M[1] resists pasteurization, autoclave and the other methods that make foodstuff healthy. This study aims to determine the contents of aflatoxin M[1] in raw milk of milk factories in Kermanshah province. This research is carried out through the descriptive-cross sectional method. Among the raw milk received by four pasteurized milk factories in Kermanshah, coded by [A, B, C, D] labels, six samples, totally 320 samples [80 samples from each factory], were taken within four seasons. The concentration of aflatoxin M[1] was examined by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay [ELISA]. The mean difference was analyzed statistically through t-test using SPSS software. The content of aflatoxin was higher than Codex standard [0.5 micro g/l] in 295 samples. The total mean was 1.21, which exceeds two times the Codex standard. The highest and lowest contents of aflatoxin M[1] were observed in "Factory D" in spring and in "Factory A" in autumn, respectively. There was a significant difference between contamination of aflatoxin M[1] and different seasons [p< 0.05]. High content of aflatoxin M[1] in raw milk is worrying. Measuring the content of aflatoxin M[1] is essential to reduce the toxin entering the daily food of animals and the other related factors. The considerable difference of aflatoxin M[1] content between Factory D and Factory A can be attributed to the amount of the local milk and the industrial milk received by the factories