A comparative study between the top 10 origin countries involved in the EU RASFF notifications on aflatoxins from 1997 to 2022

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), is among the most carcinogenic and genotoxic food and feed contaminants and there is no acceptable level of their intake. An analysis of the top 10 countries of origin notifications on aflatoxins (AFs) involved in the EU RASFF database over the last 26 years was undertaken. A risk assessment was estimated for simulating the worst-case scenario for the serious notifications of the mostly notified products as well. Out of 12,400 notifications on AFs over the period between 1997 and 2022, of which 10,340 (83.39 %) concerned Iran which was the most frequently notified country (21.56 %), followed by Turkey (20.48), China (9.99 %), India (7.88 %), the USA (7.74 %), Argentina (5.82 %), Egypt (3.94 %), Brazil (3.05 %), Pakistan (1.52 %), and Nigeria (1.41 %). Germany was the most notifying country, followed by the Netherlands. Among all notifications, 53.3 % have been border rejected. Nuts, nuts products, and seeds were the highest notified product category followed by fruits and vegetables. The highest serious risk decision in terms of notification number was taken for contaminated dried fig from Turkey, followed by pistachio from Iran. The estimated margin of exposure (MOE) values for the mostly notified products i.e., pistachio, dried fig, and peanut were <10,000 which is not safe and represents a health concern.