Investigation of aflatoxin presence in herbal teas used for weight loss

In this study, 10 green teas, 10 fennel, 10 rosemary and 10 cinnamon sold in open and closed packages from 14 different sales points (herbalists, spice shops, markets, pharmacies) in Konya Akşehir. The presence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and aflatoxin B2 (AFB2) in the sample was examined. HPLC method was used for aflatoxin analysis. The average amount of aflatoxin determined as a result of aflatoxin analysis was 0.0084 ng/g in green tea samples, 0.0235 ng/g in rosemary samples, 0.0178 ng/g in fennel samples, and 0.0187 ng/g in senna samples. There was no significant difference between tea types in terms of aflatoxin amounts (p> 0.05). While an average of 0.01085 ng/g aflatoxin was detected in teas sold in the open, 0.02651 ng/g aflatoxin was detected in herbal teas sold in sealed packages. When the findings were evaluated, a significant difference was found in terms of the presence of aflatoxin according to the form of sale (p <0.05). According to the results, the amount of aflatoxin in herbal teas sold in sealed packages was higher.