Elimination of Aflatoxins from Two Selected Nigerian Vegetable Oils using Magnetic Chitosan Nanoparticles

Abstract

Abstract Activated charcoal and imarsil (local adsorbent) had shown significant Aflatoxin (AF) decontamination potentials in vegetable oil at a low AF contamination level of ≤ 9 ng/L. AF contamination in vegetable oils can be more than a hundred-fold of this. Therefore, it is needed to investigate the potential of other adsorbents at higher AF contamination levels. Magnetic Chitosan Nanoparticle (MCNP) was synthesized, and its aflatoxins extraction efficiency from two edible vegetable oils was investigated. MCNP exhibited extraction efficiencies of 82.80 – 100% and 94.87 – 100% in palm kernel oil and palm oil at the contamination levels of 579.6 and 964.6 ng/L respectively. Total aflatoxins cleanup of the palm oil and palm kernel oil was possible at 30 °C within 30 and 60 minutes, respectively, at the optimized condition of 4.4 mg/L MCNP. MCNP concentration, temperature of extraction, and contact time were significant (p < 0.05) in palm kernel oil, while these conditions were not significant (p > 0.05) in palm oil. The results of the present investigation depict that the AF extraction efficiency of MCNP depends on the type of vegetable oil and that MCNP could be a credible alternative for AF decontamination of the investigated vegetable oil. Keywords: aflatoxins, chitosan, contamination, nanoparticles, vegetable oils