Aflatoxin in spices marketed in the west mediterrenian region of Turkey

Abstract

Aflatoxins display an insufficiently recognized risk to human health. They can be found in a variety of food items and are not destroyed by normal industrial processing or cooking. In this study, totally 134 spice samples including powdered red pepper, flaked red pepper, black pepper and cumin were investigated for total aflatoxin levels by ELISA. Spice samples were obtained from bazaars and markets in Burdur, Isparta and Antalya city centers. Total aflatoxin values of the samples not exceeded 10 μg kg-1 as legal limit of the European Union. All of the red pepper samples were contaminated with levels ranging from 3.55-9.55 μg kg-1. Black pepper samples contained levels ranging from 0.67-6.15 μg kg-1. Cumin aflatoxin levels were found to be ranging from 4.55-8.57 μg kg-1 while flaked red pepper contained aflatoxin levels maximum 9.46 μg kg-1. © Medwell Journals, 2010.