The Prevalence of AflatoxinogenicAspergillus parasiticusin Jordan

Abstract

Aflatoxins are potent carcinogens and produced by almost allAspergillus parasiticusisolates and about 35% ofAspergillus flavusisolates. Chemical methods are used for detection of aflatoxins in food and feed. These methods cannot detect aflatoxinogenic fungi in samples, which contain undetectable amounts of aflatoxins. The objective of this research work was to ascertain the importance of molecular and microbiological methods in detection of aflatoxinogenic fungusA. parasiticusin food and feed samples in Jordan. Specific media for the detection of aflatoxins showed the prevalence ofA. parasiticus(6–22%) in contaminated food and feed samples. HPLC method confirmed the presence of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2 in food sample contaminated withA. parasiticus. Primer set OmtBII-F and OmtBII-R amplified DNA fragment of 611 base pairs from genomic DNA of aflatoxinogenicA. parasiticusisolated from food and feed samples but could not amplify DNA fragment of nonaflatoxinogenicA. flavus. The results of this study showed the prevalence of aflatoxinogenicA. parasiticusin food and feed samples in Jordan and give further evidence of suitability of microbiological and molecular methods in detection of aflatoxins, which are reliable low-cost approach to determine food and feed biosafety.