Risk assessment of aflatoxin B1 exposure from maize and peanut consumption in Indonesia using the margin of exposure and liver cancer risk estimation approaches

Abstract

Aflatoxin B1 (AfB1) is a secondary fungal metabolite product widely found in many foodstuffs and considered a public health concern worldwide due to its genotoxicity and carcinogenicity. Tropical climate and inappropriate food safety practices in Indonesia are the favorable conditions for AfB1 contamination of foodstuffs. Despite these challenges, there has been a limited number of risk assessment of AfB1 conducted in Indonesia. Therefore, this paper aimed to gather all available occurrence data of AfB1 in maize and peanut originating from Indonesia and used the occurrence data to evaluate the risk of exposure to AfB1 using the Margin of Exposure (MOE) and the quantitative liver cancer risk approaches established by EFSA and FAO/WHO respectively.Risk assessment using both the MOE and quantitative liver cancer risk approaches revealed that AfB1 exposure from maize and peanut consumption in Indonesia is of concern. The MOE values derived from consumption of maize and peanut originating from Indonesia were generally below 10,000, and for several occurrence data were even below 1000. The estimated number of liver cancer cases associated with AfB1 exposure generally was above the 0.1 cancer cases/100,000 individuals/75 years. Altogether the evaluation reveals the urgency for risk management of AfB1 in Indonesia.