Natural occurrence of Aflatoxins in commercial pepper in Iran

Figures & data

Figure 1. Chromatographic response for AFs: (a) a standard solution at 5ng/ml; (b) a blank pepper sample; (c) a positive pepper sample.

Table 1. Validation of AFs' determination by HPLC analysis.

Analyte	LOD^a	LOQ^b	Linearity (r^2)	Recovery (%)	Mean (µg/kg)^c	RSD (%)
AFB1	0.05	0.20	0.999	90.4	4.52	7.12
AFB2	0.04	0.11	0.998	82.4	4.12	5.57
AFG1	0.05	0.20	0.999	86.2	4.31	6.21
AFG2	0.10	0.25	0.988	79.8	3.99	7.28

^aLOD.

^bLOQ.

^cPrecision expressed by the mean was determined by spiking at a level of 5 µg/kg.

Table 2. The occurrence of AFs in pepper samples in the Isfahan province, Iran.

Spice type	Samples, n	Positive samples, n (%)	Total AFs (µg/kg)		Average of concentration (µg/kg)				Exceed regulation^a, n (%)
			Mean ± SE	Range	AFB1	AFB2	AFG1	AFG2
Black pepper	40	5 (12.5)^b	2.01 ± 0.005^b	1.44–3.21	1.09	0.21	< LOD	< LOD	0 (0.00)
Red pepper	36	36 (100)^c	15.5 ± 0.004^c	4.26–30.2	15.51	1.17	< LOD	< LOD	25 (69.4)

^aThe ISIRI and EC limits for total AFs in foodstuff are 10 µg/kg.

^b,cDetection rates and means ± SE in the same column with different superscript letters are significantly different (p < .05).