Determination and Comparison of Total Aflatoxin Levels in Groundnuts from Four Major Markets in Lagos State, Nigeria (Published)
Aflatoxins (Aspergillus flavus toxins) are poisonous substances produced by some fungi on crops, foods, and feeds. The study was carried out to determine and to compare total aflatoxin levels in groundnuts sold in Lagos markets, Nigeria. Microbiological and toxicology tests were carried out on raw, boiled, and roasted groundnuts from the same source. The microbiological test was carried out to detect the fungi that produce aflatoxins as their secondary metabolite. The groundnuts samples were cultured on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA). The isolates were identified using standard microbiological methods, characteristics such as presence of spores, shape, colour of spores and presence of septa were used in identification. Aspergillus flavus (75%; percentage of occurrence) was the most frequently isolated fungus from the groundnut samples. The other contaminant isolated from the samples were Aspergillus niger (25%). The toxicology analysis was carried out to determine the production of aflatoxins and the level present in the groundnut. This was carried out using a Romer Mycosep Column kit for aflatoxin to clean-up, and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to detect the aflatoxins and determine the levels. Total aflatoxins were detected in the groundnuts, and they ranged between 0.36 ppb and 0.42 ppb. The levels of total aflatoxins were not beyond the regulatory standard of National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control- NAFDAC (for ready to eat food, 4µg/kg while food that will still undergo processing 20µg/kg). Thus, the groundnut samples from the four markets are fit for consumption.
Keywords: Aflatoxins, Aspergillus flavus, Mycotoxins, food contaminants, groundnut, microbiological test, toxicology test
Comparative Analysis of Milk Samples from Bosnia and Herzegovina Contaminated With Aflatoxin M1 (Published)
Mycotoxins are toxic metabolites of extracellular different molds in which living organisms (plants, animals, people) cause different diseases, known collectively as mycotoxicoses. Molds, potential producers of toxic metabolites, are constantly present. Aflatoxins are the most known and most toxic mycotoxins. Aflatoxin M1 is highly toxic 4-hydroxylated metabolite of aflatoxin B1 and B2. Given that occurs in the milk of mammals that were fed food contaminated mentioned aflatoxin, a mark M is received from the English word milk. Aflatoxin M1 is a relatively stable compound in raw and processed milk that has no effect on the process of pasteurization or processing into cheese. According to the Regulations on maximum levels for certain contaminants in foodstuffs maximum permissible limit of aflatoxin M1 in milk and dairy products was 0.05 mg/kg, which is in accordance with the current regulations in force in the EU. Made many studies aflatoxin M1 in different areas and found that the presence of this toxin can affect the climate or season. As one of the tests for the detection of pathogens in food on the basis of immunological characteristics are widely applied imunoadsorpcioni enzyme assay – ELISA (The enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay). The method is designed to replace the detection and isolation of the solid phase is relatively easy to perform, can be applied to a larger number of pathogens, can be semi-automatic and gives quick results. To use the ELISA method researchers are usually decided by the fact that the ELISA is simple, sufficiently accurate, inexpensive and reliable method for the analysis of samples in a short period of time. In interpreting the results, it should be noted that the percentage of absorbance is inversely proportional to the concentration of the toxin, respectively, as a percentage of absorbance higher concentrations of not aflatoxin M1 in milk sample is lower. Although it is known that the presence of mycotoxins can not be completely avoided, the recommended preventive measures in order to prevent the occurrence of mycotoxins in animal feed refer to the quality control of production conditions and storage conditions (propionic acid to grains, hay and silage, CO2, cold storage, dry cereal, improving fermentation in silage-enzyme supplements, probiotics, bacteria).
Citation: Aldina Kesić, Mersiha Hodžić, Nadira Ibrišimović Mehmedinović, Almir Šestan(2021)Comparative Analysis of Milk Samples from Bosnia and Herzegovina Contaminated With Aflatoxin M1, European Journal of Food Science and TechnologyVol.9, No.3, pp.1-15
Keywords: ELISA, Milk, Mycotoxins, aflatoxin M1