Comparison of Visual, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay Screening, and HPLC Methods in Detecting Aflatoxin in Farmers Stock Peanut Grade Samples

Abstract

Abstract Grade samples from 152 lots of farmers stock peanuts were analyzed for aflatoxin by both an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) rapid screening test and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results from HPLC and ELISA were compared to the results of the visual inspection method used by the Federal State Inspection Service (FSIS). The results showed 41% of the grade samples with visible Aspergillus flavus (Segregation 3) contained less than 20 ppb aflatoxin when analyzed by both ELISA and HPLC methods; 18.7% of Segregation 1 peanuts actually contained aflatoxin with a range of 26-2542 ppb. The results of ELISA and HPLC agreed in 98.6% of the composite lot analyses with the detection of 20 ppb or greater. However, the ELISA rapid screening test failed to give positive tests 12 of 13 times when the aflatoxin content was between 20-43 ppb in the component samples.