Exposure Assessment of Aflatoxin B1 through Consumption of Rice in the United Arab Emirates

Rice is one of the most consumed staple foods worldwide and a major part of the diet for half of the global population. Being primarily cultivated in countries with warm and humid environments increases rice’s susceptibility for mycotoxins contamination, especially the hepatotoxic and carcinogenic aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). Since no study was published before on the exposure to AFB1 from consuming rice in the UAE, our study aims to assess the levels of AFB1 in rice marketed in the country and determine the estimated daily exposure of the population for this carcinogenic metabolite and its associated liver cancer risk. All white, brown, and parboiled rice brands available in the retail markets in the UAE were procured twice. Using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method, AFB1 was detected in 48 out of 128 rice samples (38%). The average contamination ± standard deviation of AFB1 among positive samples (above the detection limit) was found to be 1.66 ± 0.89 μg/kg, ranging from 1 μg/kg (detection limit) to 4.69 μg/kg. The contamination level in all the samples was below the limit set by the Gulf Cooperation Council Standardization Organization (≤5 μg/kg), while 10 (20.8%) of the positive samples had a contamination level above the maximum limit set by the European Union (≥2 μg/kg). The moisture content in all the assessed samples was ≤14%. Furthermore, there was a significant difference in AFB1 between samples in both collections (p-value = 0.043). However, the rice type, grain size, packing country, packing season, country of origin, collection season, and packing to purchasing time had no significant effect on AFB1. The calculated mean daily exposure level of the Emirati population to AFB1 from consuming rice was 4.83 ng/kg.