Masters Dissertation
A survey was conducted in year 2020/2021 to establish the levels of aflatoxin M 1 (AFM 1 )
in pasteurized and ultra-heat-treated milk (n=118) and awareness on mycotoxins by milk
processors in Kinondoni, Temeke, Ubungo, Ilala and Kigamboni district of Dar es Salaam,
the commercial capital of Tanzania. The levels of AFM 1 in pasteurized milk (n=75) and
UHT milk (n=43) samples were determined by using immuno-affinity high performance
liquid chromatography. AFM 1 was detected in 97% (115/118) of the heat-treated samples.
Pasteurized milk and UHT milk samples were contaminated by 96% (72/75) and 100%
(43/43), respectively. About 82% of the contaminated pasteurized and UHT had aflatoxin
M 1 above the EU acceptable levels (0.05 μg/L) however none of the contaminated
pasteurized and UHT milk sample exceed Codex limits of 0.5 μg/L. The observed
contamination levels of AFM 1 in heated milk could pose a serious public health problem.
Therefore, best practices including regular monitoring of AFM 1 levels in milk and milk
products are crucial to protect consumers. Awareness of aflatoxin contamination of milk
was assessed by using a cross-sectional descriptive statistic involving 30 milk processors.
Data was collected using a structured questionnaire and statistically analysed using
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS® Version 27 (2020). Descriptive
statistics was used to determine frequencies and percentages of social demographic,
knowledge, handling and feeding practices of lactating cow. Cross tabulation was used to
determine relationship between knowledge on aflatoxins with age and education level of
the respondents. The majority of the respondents (83.3%) were aware of aflatoxins and
none (0.0%) of the respondents were aware that milk and milk products could be
contaminated with aflatoxins. It was also observed that the cattle feeding practices were
poor and were a major reason for AFM 1 contamination of milk. None of the respondents
were aware that feeding lactating cow with mouldy feeds could results into AFM 1
contamination of milk. It was observed that, AFM 1 analysis was not carried out in rawiii
milk before processing in order to control AFM 1 contamination of milk and milk products.
This could be due to lack of knowledge and techniques for detection and analysis of
aflatoxins. This study recommended that creation of awareness of aflatoxins and use of
best practices along the milk value chain was crucial in order to enhance the safety of
consumers.