Abstract
The current study was conducted to analyze the aflatoxins (AF i.e. AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 AFG2) and ochratoxin A (OTA) in imported pet food. A total of five hundred and ten commercially available imported pet food samples of cat (solid = 240, semi-solid = 90) and dog (solid = 150, semi-solid = 30) were collected from retailers and analyzed by chromatographic technique i.e. HPTLC. Results revealed 45.83% (mean, 3.90 ppb) and 18% (mean, 4.83 ppb) of AFB1 incidence in solid pet foods of cats and dogs, respectively. However, lower levels i.e. 8.88% (mean, 4.60ppb) and 6.66% (mean, 2.80ppb) of AFB1 were observed for semi-solid food samples of cat and dog, respectively. Aflatoxin B2 was found in solid cat food only with an incidence of 12.5% (mean, 0.89 ppb). About 35.33% (mean, 4.5 ppb) and 26.66% (mean, 2 ppb) of OTA were observed in solid and semi-solid dog foods respectively. Similarly, the trend of OTA in cat foods was 15% (mean, 3.87 ppb) and 13.13% (mean, 1.0 ppb) for solid and semisolid foods. Furthermore, co-contamination of AF and OTA were observed in 33.33% and 41.60% samples of dog and cat foods, respectively. It was concluded that natural incidence of mean contaminations was below than European Commission (EC) legislation i.e. 20 ppb and 10 ppb for AF and OTA, respectively. However, co-occurrence of mycotoxins in pet food may exert synergistic deleterious effects even at levels far below the regulatory limits.
Highlights
Pet foods are basically balanced diets, including calories of protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals required to sustain life and optimize performance (Zicker, 2008)
A total of five hundred and ten (n = 510) pet food samples were analyzed for the aflatoxins and ochratoxin A contamination
Distributed Aspergillus flavus might be responsible for elevated incidence of aflatoxins in solid pet food samples
Summary
Pet foods are basically balanced diets, including calories of protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals required to sustain life and optimize performance (Zicker, 2008). Pet food is mainly prepared by using different ingredients i.e. cereals (corn, wheat gluten, corn gluten and rice protein) and meat meal (Leung et al, 2006). These raw materials, cereals, are considered to be an ideal substrate for the fungal growth that might lead to production of mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolite products of molds generally produced by Fusarium, Aspergillus and Penicillium species and found on common feed stuff, cereals They may cause different toxic effects in animals called “mycotoxicosis”, varying from immune suppression, estrogenic or neurotoxin effects, and may lead to death in severe cases (Leung et al, 2006). The present study was planned to assess the prevalence of mycotoxins in selected imported pet foods
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