Risk assessment of dietary exposure to aflatoxin B1 in Serbia

Bozidar Udovicki; Nikola Tomic; Bojana Spirovic Trifunovic; Sasa Despotovic; Jelena Jovanovic; Liesbeth Jacxsens; Andreja Rajkovic

doi:10.1016/j.fct.2021.112116

Risk assessment of dietary exposure to aflatoxin B1 in Serbia

Food Chem Toxicol. 2021 May:151:112116. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2021.112116. Epub 2021 Mar 13.

Authors

Bozidar Udovicki¹, Nikola Tomic², Bojana Spirovic Trifunovic³, Sasa Despotovic⁴, Jelena Jovanovic⁵, Liesbeth Jacxsens⁵, Andreja Rajkovic⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food Safety and Quality Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Nemanjina 6, 11080, Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia. Electronic address: bozidar.udovicki@agrif.bg.ac.rs.
² Department of Food Safety and Quality Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Nemanjina 6, 11080, Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia.
³ Department of Pesticides and Herbology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Nemanjina 6, 11080, Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia.
⁴ Department of Technology of Preservation and Fermentation, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Nemanjina 6, 11080, Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia.
⁵ Department of Food Technology, Safety and Health, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium.
⁶ Department of Food Safety and Quality Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Nemanjina 6, 11080, Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia; Department of Food Technology, Safety and Health, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium.

PMID: 33727182
DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2021.112116

Abstract

Classified as Group 1 carcinogens aflatoxins (AFs) are of major concern for food safety and public health. Within the AFs group, aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) occurs at the highest levels in different food products and is considered as the most potent representative. A total of 463 samples of products susceptible to contamination with AFB1 and commonly consumed in Serbia were collected and analyzed. Consumption surveys were performed using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and 24-h recall-based method. Monte Carlo simulation of 100,000 iterations was performed to estimate the intake of AFB1 through each food category, while a simple distribution approach was performed to estimate overall exposure of tested population groups. Risk characterization was performed by calculation of the Margin of Exposure (MOE) and by calculation of the number of possible hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cases. The highest exposure was observed in children with the mean overall estimated daily intake (EDI) in the range of 0.79-1.10 and 1.20-1.66 ng kg^-1 bw day^-1, followed by adolescents 0.56-0.81 and 0.94-1.32 ng kg^-1 bw day^-1, adult females 0.52-0.72 and 0.56-0.76 ng kg^-1 bw day^-1 and adult males with the mean overall EDI in the range of 0.39-0.56 and 0.47-0.66 ng kg^-1 bw day^-1 depending on consumption survey method and for the lower (LB) and upper bound (UB) scenario. MOE values that resulted from the mean values of the overall EDI of AFB1 were low, indicating high concern for all population groups. Based on obtained mean values of the overall EDI higher estimates of possible HCC cases caused by exposure to AFB1 were in the range of 0.01-0.02 cases/year/10⁵ individuals, depending on the population group.

Keywords: ELISA; HCC risk; LC/MS-MS; MOE; Monte Carlo simulation.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Aflatoxin B1 / analysis
Aflatoxin B1 / toxicity*
Aged
Child
Chromatography, Liquid / methods
Dietary Exposure*
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / methods
Female
Food Contamination / analysis*
Humans
Limit of Detection
Male
Middle Aged
Reproducibility of Results
Risk Assessment
Serbia
Tandem Mass Spectrometry / methods

Substances

Aflatoxin B1