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 B₁ (AFB₁), aflatoxin B₂ (AFB₂), aflatoxin G₁ (AFG₁), and aflatoxin G₂ (AFG₂), in these samples were quantitatively analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence (HPLC-FL) detection after immunoaffinity column purification. Each value was confirmed by spike and recovery test. The contamination of AFB₁ was detected in nine samples except for one sample (CP-3). That of AFB₂ was detected in four samples (CP-6, CP-7, CP-8, and CP-9). One sample with the highest concentration of AFB₁ and AFB₂ (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 AFG₁ and AFG₂ was found in ten samples. The data obtained here suggest that CP may have affinity to Aspergillus flavus, a B-type AFs producer.