Occurrence of aflatoxins and ochratoxin A in Gaz, a traditional Persian confection, and its ingredients

The current study was aimed to investigate the presence of aflatoxins (aflatoxin B-1 (AFB(1)), aflatoxin B-2 (AFB(2)), aflatoxin G(1) (AFG(1)) and aflatoxin G(2) (AFG(2))) and ochratoxin A (OTA) in Gaz, a traditional Persian confection, and its ingredients (almond, pistachio, egg and white wheat flour) collected from Isfahan, Kerman and Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari provinces using high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FD) in 2017. The findings obtained in this study showed that 74.2%, 39.2%, 12.5%, 5.8% and 34.2% of total Gaz samples contained detectable levels of AFB(1), AFB(2), AFG(1), AFG(2) and OTA, respectively. Moreover, AFB(1), AFB(2), AFG(1), AFG(2) and OTA were found in 55.3%, 34.1%, 7.6%, 4.11% and 18.2% of ingredients of Gaz samples, respectively. The ranges for positive samples were 0.2-21.9 mu g/kg AFB(1), 0.2-5.6 mu g/kg AFB(2), 0.2-2.0 mu g/kg AFG(1) and 0.2-0.6 AFG(2). OTA was found in 76.6%, 16.0%, 70.0% and 66.6% of white wheat flour, egg, Gaz coated with flour containing almond and Gaz coated with flour containing pistachio with mean concentrations of 17.8 +/- 2.2, 0.4 +/- 0.0, 3.4 +/- 0.8 and 2.8 +/- 0.9 mu g/kg, respectively. With respect to the adverse effects of AFs and OTA on human health, more strict regulatory monitoring and legislations must be applied in order to reduce exposure of Iranian population to toxin residues due to consumption of different food products such as traditional Gaz confection.