Occurrence of aflatoxins in processed chili pepper sold in Myanmar

Abstract

A limited surveillance of aflatoxins (AFs) contamination was conducted with ten samples of processed chili pepper (CP) retailed in commercial market in Myanmar during 2017. All samples were dried and ground for consumption. The concentrations of major AFs, aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1), aflatoxin B 2 (AFB 2), aflatoxin G 1 (AFG 1), and aflatoxin G 2 (AFG 2), in these samples were quantitatively analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography-fluo-rescence (HPLC-FL) detection after immunoaffinity column purification. Each value was confirmed by spike and recovery test. The contamination of AFB 1 was detected in nine samples except for one sample (CP-3). That of AFB 2 was detected in four samples (CP-6, CP-7, CP-8, and CP-9). One sample with the highest concentration of AFB 1 and AFB 2 (CP-8) showed the value of total AFs (sum of major four AFs) above 10 µg/kg, while others showed below 10 µg/kg, the maximum permissible limit of total AFs level set by many countries. No contamination of AFG 1 and AFG 2 was found in ten samples. The data obtained here suggest that CP may have affinity to Aspergillus flavus, a B-type AFs producer.