Determination by high performance liquid chromatography and elisa methods of the amount aflatoxins of pepper and tomatoes paste which are different in production and storage

The purpose of this study is to measure the amounts of total aflatoxin and aflatoxin B1 in tomato and pepper paste sold in farmer's markets in Istanbul and to evaluate whether aflatoxin concentration is within the standards and whether it will put public health in danger. A total of 87 samples including 34 tomato paste and 53 pepper paste were obtained from the farmer's markets of some of the provinces of Istanbul and the total amount of total aflatoxin and aflatoxin B1 was determined in tomato and pepper paste which differed in production and storage. HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) and ELISA method were used to determine aflatoxin quantities. According to the findings, were detected total aflatoxin (1 ppb in 35 samples, 1-2,5 ppb in 4 samples) and AFB1 (1 ppb) in 53.85% of the 87 samples analyzed by ELISA method. A total of 64 samples were found to contain total aflatoxin (between 0.21-2.34 ppb) at 32.81% and AFB1 (between 0.22-2.34 ppb) at 25% analyzed by HPLC method. It has been determined that there is a significant differences between the results of HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) and ELISA method. In both methods, it was determined that total aflatoxin and aflatoxin B1 levels were within the limits of Turkish Food Codex (TFC) and that they did not present any danger in terms of public health. Keywords: Total aflatoxin, aflatoxin B1, paste samples, ELISA, HPLC.