Investigation of aflatoxin B1 levels in red scaled pepper which is presented to consumption, by ELISA methods

Aflatoxins are secondary metabolic by produced name of Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. They can grow everywhere that mould can grow. Among all aflatoxins, aflatoxin B1 is the most toxic effects. Aflatoxins are carcinojenic to most animal and humans. Consumption of food contaminated with aflatoxins are associated both with human and animal hepatocelluler carcinoma. Therefore, growing conditions, harvesting and processing methods, storage conditions should be carefully controlled in order to prevent aflatoxin risks due to contaminated spices. The contamination levels of the aflatoxins have important impact on health of human and animals consuming contaminated products. Besides of their health problems, they mayaıso constitute important economic lose notably during the exportation of agricultural products. Therefore, the importance and diagnosis techniques of mycotoxins should be well known in order to control of mycotoxins in agricultural produts. In this study, 82 rep scaled pepper samples were collected in Ankara. The occurence of aflatoxin B1 contamination in red scaled pepper was investigated by ELISA. According to the Turkish Food Codex, 69 of 82 red scaled pepper samples (84,14%) were found to be contaminated with aflatoxin B1. The aflatoxin amount ranged between 5,1-20,94 ppb that was above the acceptable limits in samples investigated. There was no aflatoxin B1 contamination in 13 of 82 red scaled pepper samples (15,86%). The aflatoxin amount ranged between 1,62-4,94 ppb that was below the acceptable limits in samples investigated. The aflatoxin amount ranged between 6,14-17,86 ppb in branded samples. This values were above the acceptable limits. Key words: Aflatoxins, red scaled pepper, ELISA