Determination of Aflatoxins in Foods Using HPLC and a Commercial ELISA System

Abstract

A commercially available enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system and a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method were used simultaneously to analyze 178 samples of foodstuffs for total aflatoxins. High correlation coefficient values between results of the two methodologies were obtained (>0.96) with nuts, nut products, peanuts, and peanut butter. However, poor correlation was obtained from results of cereals and grain samples. The ELISA system demonstrated a high degree of reproducibility between wells (p<0.01). Of the 35 samples of nut and nut products examined, aflatoxins were detected in five samples at levels ranging from 40 to 276 μg/kg. However, of 73 peanut and peanut butter samples only one peanut sample contained 61 μg/kg, and of 70 samples of processed cereal and grain, three samples contained 6–10 μg/kg total aflatoxins. Both methods were also applied to six peanut meal samples, with known aflatoxin concentrations, provided in an interlaboratory collaborative trial. The results obtained by the HPLC and ELISA methods were in close agreement with the mean results obtained by the participating laboratories.