Determination of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in dairy sheep, goats and camel milk in Hail Region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and evaluation of different methods reducing its concentrations in milk

This study aimed to determine aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in dairy sheep, goats, and camel milk in Hail, Saudi Arabia, and evaluate methods for reducing AFM1. A total of 67 milk samples were collected from Ghazala and Al-Shweimis villages, Hail. AFM1 in milk samples was analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection. Results revealed concentration of AFM1 in goat and camel milk samples from Ghazala was higher than that in goat and camel milk samples from Al-Shweimis with a significant difference (p<0.05) using both ELISA and HPLC methods. The mean AFM1 concentration using ELISA for goat milk was (12.96 +/- 2.23 ng/l), while the AFM1 concentration for camel milk was (1.54 +/- 0.29 ng/l). Microwave heating and boiling are effective methods to reduce the AFM1 in milk. left-to-right markleft-to-right markThe highest AFM1 removal percent was 42.96% by microwave and 12.32 % by boiling milk samples.