Ocorrência de aflatoxinas em amostras brasileiras de milho no período de julho de 2016 a julho de 2017

Abstract

Mycotoxins are toxic fungal metabolites produced by some species of fungi and are extremely important in public health because of their potential for contamination of food intended for human and animal consumption. Aflatoxin, produced by the fungus Aspergillus flavus, is one of the most potent carcinogenic substances found in nature. In this work, the occurrence of aflatoxin in maize samples will be presented through a survey based on information obtained from the analyzes, carried out at the Laboratory of Micotoxicological Analyzes of the Federal University of Santa Maria, in a period of one year. 1200 maize samples were tested for the detection and quantification of mycotoxins and all the steps performed in this process were known in order to obtain food destined for the internal and external market of human and animal consumption. The current legislation on aflatoxins in Brazil, the importance of mycotoxins in the current context of public health and on the consumption of products with the presence of these contaminating agents for the human population and also for animal consumption were also studied. Therefore, it was verified that 69% of the analyzed samples for total aflatoxins presented contamination higher than 1 μg/kg and 36% of the samples analyzed had a total aflatoxin concentration higher than the limit permitted by Brazilian legislation.