Survey of aflatoxins in beer sold in Canada

Abstract

Between March 1998 and March 2002, 304 samples of domestic (Canadian) and imported beers from 36 countries were picked up for the determination of aflatoxins B₁, B₂, G₁ and G₂. Twelve samples were positive with aflatoxins greater than the limit of quantitation (LOQ) (aflatoxin B₁, 4.4 ng l⁻¹; aflatoxin B₂, 3.4 ng l⁻¹; aflatoxin G₁, 11.2 ng l⁻¹; and aflatoxin G₂, 6.2 ng l⁻¹). Five samples from Mexico, two samples from Spain and one from Portugal contained aflatoxin B₁. Four samples from India contained aflatoxins B₁ and B₂. The remaining samples contained less than the LOQ for aflatoxins B₁, B₂, G₁ and G₂. The analytical method for this survey was based on that of Scott and Lawrence (Scott PM, Lawrence GA. 1997. Determination of aflatoxins in beer. Journal of AOAC International 80:1229–1234.). Aflatoxins B₁, B₂, G₁ and G₂ were determined at parts per trillion (ng l⁻¹) levels in beer by immunoaffinity column cleanup followed by derivatization with trifluoroacetic acid and reversed-phase liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.

Keywords:

• Aflatoxins
• beer
• immunoaffinity column
• liquid chromatography