Objective
Aflatoxins are potent carcinogens and may occur as a consequence of fungal attack in certain food. There is therefore extensive monitoring by food control laboratories and by the food industry to ensure that vulnerable products such as peanuts and figs satisfy national requirements. Most member states impose limits of either 5 ug/kg of aflatoxin B1 or 10 ug/kg of total aflatoxin (B1+B2+G1+G2). Immunological assays are increasingly used for rapid screening and commercial kits require validation by means of reference materials (RM). Two peanut butter RMs were certified for their individual and total aflatoxin contents. The certified contents in ug/kg are as follows:
RM number 385: B1 = 7.0(+/-0.8); B2 = 1.1(+/-0.2); G1 = 1.7(+/-0.3); G2 = 0.3(+/-0.1); Total = 10.1(+/-0.9);
RM number 401: B1 < 0.2; B2 < 0.1; G1 < 0.1; G2 < 0.1; Total < 0.1.
Certification measurements were made by 9 laboratories using a variety of extraction and clean up procedures with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) as the final step.
Aflatoxins are potent carcinogens and may occur as a consequence of fungal attack in certain food. There is therefore extensive monitoring by food control laboratories and by the food industry to ensure that vulnerable products such as peanuts and figs satisfy national requirements. Most Member States impose limits of either 5 ug/kg of aflatoxin B1 or 10 ug/kg of total aflatoxin (B1+B2+G1+G2). Immunological assays are increasingly used for rapid screening and commercial kits require validation by means of reference materials. The objective of the project was to provide appropriate CRMs.
Topic(s)
Data not availableCall for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
NR4 7UQ Norwich
United Kingdom