Natural occurrence of aflatoxins and ochratoxin A in commercial dried chili

Non-sanitary conditions during the drying, transport and storage stages in the production of chili could introduce mycotoxin contamination. The aim of this study was to determine the level of the aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2) and ochratoxin A (OTA) in 80 samples of chili marketed in supermarkets and open markets in Malaysia. Mycotoxins were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection after immunoaffinity column clean-up. The limits of detections (LODs) were 0.02, 0.02, 0.1, 0.06 and 0.02 ng/g for AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2 and OTA, respectively. Fifty-two chili samples (65.0%) were contaminated with total aflatoxin level in the range of 0.2-79.7 ng/g. The AFB1 exhibited the highest incidence compared to the other examined aflatoxins. Sixty-five of 80 chili samples (81.25%) were found to be contaminated with OTA in the range of 0.2-101.2 ng/g. Results showed that the level of mycotoxin contamination of the chili samples purchased from the open markets were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than those of the chili samples obtained from supermarkets. It seems that more precaution and hygienic controls should be practiced to prevent mycotoxin contamination.

► We investigated the presence of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 and ochratoxin A in dried chili as marketed in Malaysia. ► The concentration of total aflatoxins and ochratoxin in 7.5 and 12% of the samples was higher than 10 ng/ g respectively. ► Samples from the open markets were significantly higher than from supermarkets in their mycotoxin content.