Probabilistic risk assessment of dietary exposure to aflatoxin B1 in Guangzhou, China

Weiwei Zhang,Kuncai Chen,Yufei Liu,Yanyan Wang,Jie Huang,Xiaoyan Luo,Yuhua Zhang,Boheng Liang,Xianwu Zhong,Weibin Cheng

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-64295-8

Abstract

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) contamination in foods is an important health challenge for low-and middle-income countries in subtropical regions. AFB1 has been detected in a variety of foodsin Guangzhou, while the risk of dietary exposure is unknown. This study aimed to assess the probabilistic risk of dietary exposure to AFB1 contamination in food stuffs in Guangzhou by using margin of exposure (MOE) and quantitative liver cancer risk approaches. A total of1854 AFB1-contaminated foodstuffs were sampled in supermarkets, agricultural markets, retail shops, and family workshops from 11 districts of Guangzhou, and AFB1 content was determined by HPLC-fluorescence detector. In total, 9.9% (184/1854) of the test samples had AFB1 concentrations above the limit of detection. Home-made peanut oil had the highest AFB1 concentration, with a mean value of 38.74 ± 47.45 μg kg−1. The average MOE levels of Guangzhou residents ranged from 100 to 1000. The risk of liver cancer was 0.0264 cancers (100,000 population year)−1. The health risks of suburban people were higher than those of urban people, and home-made peanut oil was the main contributorto dietary exposure to AFB1 among suburban residents in Guangzhou. The production of home-made peanut oil should be supervised to reduce the risk of AFB1 exposure.

Highlights

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) contamination in foods is an important health challenge for low-and middle-income countries in subtropical regions
We present the probabilistic risk of dietary exposure to AFB1 among Guangzhou residents by using margin of exposure (MOE) andquantitative liver cancer risk approaches
Home-made peanut oil had the highest concentration of AFB1, with detected values ranging from 0.26 to 283.0 μg kg−1, a median value of 3.21 μg kg−1 and a mean value of 38.74 ±47.45 μg kg−1

Summary

Introduction

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) contamination in foods is an important health challenge for low-and middle-income countries in subtropical regions. This study aimed to assess the probabilistic risk of dietary exposure to AFB1 contamination in food stuffs in Guangzhou by using margin of exposure (MOE) and quantitative liver cancer risk approaches. The health risks of suburban people were higher than those of urban people, and home-made peanut oil was the main contributorto dietary exposure to AFB1 among suburban residents in Guangzhou. In addition to setting regulatory limits for AFB1,it is necessary to conduct dietary exposure risk assessments in the population. The data used were not considered representativebecause of the bias for the highest contamination level in food sampling[24] In view of this scenario, national or regional AFhealth risk exposure assessments have beenundertakensince ,especially in tropical and subtropical regions[12,13,14,15]. In the United States, exposure was estimatedat 2.7 ngkg−1 bw day−1 26 In Asia, the population of Japan[27], with anintake ranging from 0.003 to 0.004 ngkg−1 bw day−1, hasa lower riskthan those of Indonesia[13] (from 0.02 to 427.8 ngkg−1 bw day−1) and Vietnam[23] (from 35.0 to 43.7 ngkg−1 bw day−1)

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