Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are a well-known group of persistent man-made chemicals. In the present study, 55 agricultural soil samples were collected from the Aghili plain and analyzed for 20 OCPs with the aim of determining contamination profiles, spatial distribution, influencing factors and carcinogenic risks. Among different OCPs, only aldrin, dieldrin, 4,4-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene, and 4,4-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane were detected. The other OCPs dosages were lower than the detection limit in all samples. The results of cancer risk assessment demonstrated no carcinogenic risks to an exposed population.

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Article type: Original ArticleBackground: Aflatoxins are one of the most potent toxic substances that occur naturally. Nowadays extensive attention has been taken to their existence in food and environment, as there is the possibility of harm to humans following chronic exposure to extremely low levels via food chain. Aflatoxin M1 (AFM 1 ) is a hepatic carcinogenic metabolite found in the milk of lactating animals fed with contaminated feed contaminated by aflatoxin B1 (AFB 1 ).Objectives: This study aimed to determine the levels of AFM 1 in produced pasteurized milk in the Ahvaz of city. Materials and Methods: For this purpose, 100 samples of pasteurized milk from the Jamus Factory were analyzed the to determine AFM 1 content by using an immunoaffinity column for clean-up and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a C18 column, a fluorescence detector (excitation 365 nm, emission 435 nm) and a mobile phase of acetonitrile-water (25:75, v/v) at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. Results: AFM 1 was detected in all 100 samples of pasteurized milk at concentrations ranging from 0.45 to 9.760 ng/L.

Article type: Original ArticleBackground: Aflatoxins are one of the most potent toxic substances that occur naturally. Nowadays extensive attention has been taken to their existence in food and environment, as there is the possibility of harm to humans following chronic exposure to extremely low levels via food chain. Aflatoxin M1 (AFM 1 ) is a hepatic carcinogenic metabolite found in the milk of lactating animals fed with contaminated feed contaminated by aflatoxin B1 (AFB 1 ).Objectives: This study aimed to determine the levels of AFM 1 in produced pasteurized milk in the Ahvaz of city. Materials and Methods: For this purpose, 100 samples of pasteurized milk from the Jamus Factory were analyzed the to determine AFM 1 content by using an immunoaffinity column for clean-up and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a C18 column, a fluorescence detector (excitation 365 nm, emission 435 nm) and a mobile phase of acetonitrile-water (25:75, v/v) at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. Results: AFM 1 was detected in all 100 samples of pasteurized milk at concentrations ranging from 0.45 to 9.760 ng/L.

Background: Today's presence of polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) in foodstuff, such as milk and milk products, is considered to be the major concern for human health. This study was aimed to determine the concentrations of the most toxic congeners of furans in pasteurized milk samples produced in southwest Iran. Material and method: 15 composite samples of pasteurized milk were collected from 3 major dairy factories in Khuzestan Province (southwest of Iran) in summer, autumn and winter from July 2011 to March 2012. After precipitation of the proteins, fat phase was reduced and extracted with hexane and ether. After dehydration, furans existed in fat percolated with hexane through a column chromatography that contained respectively silica gel/silver nitrate, silica gel, silica gel/sulphuric acid and with percolating output through another column that contained activated charcoal and silica gel and washed the lower column with a mixture of dichloromethane-hexane and toluene, concentrated and dissolved in mobile phase and analyzed using HPLC: 150 mm × 4.6 mm ID, 5 µm cosmosil 5 NPE column equipped with a UV detector at 254 and 235 nm, mobile phase: methanol/water (80:20, v/v) at flow rate of 1 ml/min. Results: All samples were found to be contaminated with furans. The average concentration of 2,3,7,8 TCDF and 2,3,4,7,8 PCDF were 1.91 pg/g and 1.77 pg/g in lipid content ranging from 2% to 3% respectively. The mean total content of furans in milk fat was 0.36 TEQ (Toxic Equivalency) pg/g which was below the recommended EU (European Union) threshold value 3 pg (WHO-PCDFs-TEQ/g fat). Also, result showed that there were statistically significant differences between each factory during 3 seasons.