Risk assessment of aflatoxin in red peppers from selected districts of Amhara region, Ethiopia

Figures & data

Figure 1. Maps of study area

Table 1. Method validation for the determination of AFB1, AFG1, AFB2 and AFG2 in red pepper (n = 3)

Aflatoxin	Concentration range (ppb)	R^2	LOQ	LOQ	Recovery (%)
AFB1	0.4–20	0.9891	0.00713	0.02375	99.00 ± 2.50
AFG1	0.4–20	0.9870	0.01947	0.0649	88.30 ± 1.72
AFB2	0.2–5.0	0.9975	0.00081	0.00269	96.40 ± 5.31
AFG2	0.2–5.0	0.9700	0.00071	0.00236	95.70 ± 3.56

Table 2. The concentration of aflatoxin detected in red pepper samples (mean ± SD)(µg/Kg)*

Zone	Districts	study areas		Aflatoxins
			Code	AFB1	AFG1	AFB2	AFG2	Total
Central Gondar	Ayikel	Chilga1	Ch1	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
		Chilga2	Ch2	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
	West Dembia	Gorgora	Gor	<LOD,	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
	East Dembia	Koladiba1	Kol1	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
		Koladiba2	Kol2	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
		Koladiba3	Kol3	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
		Ayimba1	Ay1	7.52 ± 0.32^a	5.83 ± 0.24^a	<LOD	<LOD	13.35
		Ayimba2	Ay2	2.57 ± 0.25 ^b	3.04 ± 0.03^b	<LOD	BDL	5.61
South Gondar	Dera	Anbesame1	An1	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
		Anbesame2	An2	2.51 ± 0.05^d	2.23 ± 0.06 ^f	<LOD	<LOD	4.74
		Anbesame3	An3	19.59 ± 0.06^e	17.75 ± 0.31 ^g	1.81 ± 0.01^a	1.65 ± 0.13^b	40.8
	Fogera	Woreta1	Wor1	63.20 ± 2.55 ^f	32.79 ± 1.59^d	0.96 ± 0.17^b	2.04 ± 0.08^b	98.99
		Woreta2	Wor2	18.83 ± 0.13^b	14.82 ± 0.47^e	<LOD,	<LOD	33.65
West Gojjam	Bure	Bure1	Bu1	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD,	<LOD	<LOD
		Bure2	Bu2	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD,	<LOD	<LOD
	Jabi Tehnan	Jiga	Jig	4.88 ± 0.21	10.14 ± 0.45	<LOD,	<LOD	15.02
		Mankusa1	Mnk1	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD,	<LOD	<LOD
		Mankusa2	Mnk2	5.21 ± 0.19^c	1.71 ± 0.16^c	5.29 ± 0.16^a	0.53 ± 0.014^a	12.74

Values described by different letters in the same column are significantly different at p < 0.05

<LOD = Less than Detection Limit

*Average of triplicate observations

Table 3. The level of aflatoxin reported in literature (µg/Kg)

Country	AFB1	AFB2	AFG1	AFG2	References
Mexico	0.23–10.62	0.05–1.04	0.02–9.21	0.05–3.35	Rosas-Contreras et al., 2016.
Turkey	0.025–40.9	NR	NR	NR	Aydin et al., 2007
Pakistan	0.1–93.00	0.1–2.5	NR	NR	Paterson, 2007
Turkey	23.4–46.6	NR	NR	NR	Tosun & Arslan, 2013
Turkey	1–33.5	NR	NR	NR	Set & Erkmen, 2014
Iran	1.73–17.99	0.66–4.16	1.47–2.45	ND-0.52	Jalili, 2016
Turkey	0.13–11.45	0.04–1.28	LOD-2.05		Ozbey & Kabak, 2020
Turkey	0.24–165	0.15–11.3	0.15–3.88	NR	Golge et al., 2013
Pakistan	14.84	NR	NR	NR	Akhtar et al., 2020
Turkey	6.9–77.13	0.505–6.69	0.145–4.423	0.122–1.542	Karaaslan & Arslangray, 2015
Ethiopia	2.1–63.2	0.96–5.29	1.71–32.79	0.53–2.04	present study

NG: not given

NR: not reported

Table 4. Estimated daily intake (EDI) for adults via consumption of red pepper

	EDI
Site	AFB1	AFG1	AFB2	AFG2
Ay1	0.00188	0.00146	-	-
Ay2	0.00064	0.00076	-	-
An2	0.00063	0.00056	-	-
An3	0.00489	0.00444	0.00045	0.00041
Wor1	0.01580	0.00820	0.00024	0.00051
Wor2	0.00471	0.00370	-	-
Jig	0.00122	0.00253	-	-
Mnk2	0.00130	0.00043	0.00132	0.00013

EDI—Estimated Daily Intake (μg/Kg.bw/day).

TD₅₀ of total Aflatoxin =  1.3 μg/kg (Echodu et al., 2019))

Average body weight of an adult in Ethiopia = 60 kg (Adefa &.Tefera)

Table 5. MOE for adults via consumption of red pepper

	MOE
Site	AFB1	AFG1		AFB2		AFG2
Ay1	212.7660	171.2329		-		-
Ay2	622.5681	328.9474		-		-
An2	637.4502	446.4286		-		-
An3	81.6743	56.3063		555.5556		609.7561
Wor1	25.3165	30.4878		1041.667		490.1961
Wor2	84.9708	67.5675		-		-
Jig	327.8688	98.8142		-		-
Mnk2	307.1017	581.3953		189.3939		1923.077

BDML₁₀ for AFB1 (0.170 µg kg^–1bw d^–1) and AFG1 = AFB2 = AFG2 (0.250 µg kg^–1bw d^–1; Yu-jiao et al., 2018)

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