title: Occurrence of aflatoxin B1in baby foods marketed in Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Aflatoxin B1(AFB1), 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 AFB1using 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 AFB1at median, maximum and mean concentration levels of 0.11, 15.15 and 2.602 ± 4.065 µg kg-1, respectively. The AFB1concentration in 39.6% of the samples was higher than the maximum level established in Iran for AFB1within baby foods containing milk (0.5 µg kg-1). The incidence of AFB1in rice, wheat and multigrain infant cereal samples was 90%, 25% and 100%, respectively, whereas rice-based baby foods contained the highest levels of AFB1.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the present study, the finding of both high rates and high levels of AFB1in cereal baby foods indicates the need to reduce AFB1contamination in these products. Therefore, further monitoring and control of pre- and post-harvest, storage, and manufacturing processes is required. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Safety and Hygiene, School of Public Health, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran.
authors.forename: Ehsan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mottaghianpour
authors.affiliation: Food and Drug Administration-Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Firouzeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nazari
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Safety and Hygiene, School of Public Health, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Mehrasbi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran.|Zanjan Applied Pharmacology Research Center, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mir-Jamal
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hosseini
mesh_terms: D016604:Aflatoxin B1 / Q000032:analysis*; D000818:Animals; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D002523:Edible Grain / Q000737:chemistry; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007225:Infant Food / Q000032:analysis*; D007492:Iran; D008892:Milk / Q000737:chemistry; D012275:Oryza / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D016604:Aflatoxin B1
keywords: HPLC; Iran; aflatoxin B1; baby foods; contamination; photochemical derivatization