Development and validation of a lateral flow immunoassay for the detection of aflatoxin M1 in raw and commercialised milks

Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1), a group I carcinogen, can be found in the milk of animals fed with aflatoxin-B-1-contaminated feedstuff. In this study, we developed and validated a lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) with the cut-off value of 0.5 mu g/L for AFM1 screening. The validation revealed that the assay yielded high sensitivity, selectivity and efficiency with no false positives. Forty-one commercial milk samples were tested for AFM1 by the developed LFIA. However, the developed LFIA could not be applied to milk samples flavoured with chocolate and coffee. Otherwise, all samples gave negative test results.