Evaluation and application of a simple and rapid method for the analysis of aflatoxins in commercial foods from Malaysia and the Philippines

For application to the analysis of aflatoxins (AF) in commercial peanut and corn products, the ISOLUTE(TM) multimode column (IMC, solid phase multifunctional column) method was validated by comparing with the modified Florisil column (MFC) method. Twenty-two peanut and eight corn products from Malaysia and the Philippines were analysed for AFB(1), AFB(2), AFG(1) and AFG(2) firstly, by the MFC method and then by the IMC method. For peanut products, 14 out of 22 samples were positive by the two methods in the range of 1-378 mu g/kg of AF, and correlation coefficients (r) for AFB(1) and AFB(2) were 0.987 and 0.997, respectively. For corn and corn products, all the samples were positive in the range of 1-130 mu g/kg, and r values were 0.992 and 0.805 for AFB(1) and AFB(2) respectively. Thus, the results were significantly (p < 0.01) in close agreement, particularly for lower range of 1-50 mu g/kg of AF concentrations in all the samples. For the occurrence of AF, 11 (65%) of peanut products from Malaysia were contaminated with AF at a mean level of 50 mu g/kg (maximum 180 mu g/kg) and two (40% products from the Philippines were contaminated with as high as 375 mu g/kg and 177 mu g/kg of AF, respectively, All the corn products from the Philippines were contaminated with AF at a mean level of 44 mu g/kg (maximum 130 mu g/kg). Contamination of commercial foods with high levels of AF is a very important issue to both the countries since these foods are very popular among children.