Abstract

A hundred and twenty (120) Nigerian food commodities including; rice (15), madidi (rice product) (15), millet (15), fura (millet dough) (15), sesame (30) and fonio (30) were collected, subjected to aflatoxin extraction and clean up procedures and analyzed quantitatively for aflatoxins using High performance liquid chromatography. Five of the rice samples contained aflatoxin B₁ within the range of 37.26-113.2 µg/kg, for madidi samples, 7 contained AFB₁ within the range of 0.20-112.5 µg/kg, 3 contained AFB₂ within the range of 0.95-18.40 µg/kg while 6.88 µg/kg and 1.60 µg/kg of the green fluorescing aflatoxins 1 and 2 respectively was found in one sample each. Analysis of sesame samples showed that eight contained AFB₁ within the range of 14.71-140.9 µg/kg, while one sample contained 2.61 µg/kg of aflatoxin G₁. The millet, millet dough and fonio samples all tested negative for the presence of aflatoxins indicating some degree of resistance. All contaminated rice and sesame samples were at ranges above the EU and Nigerian legislated limits for AFB₁ and aflatoxins in food. This portrays associated health consequence to consumers and negative impact on trade of these commodities both locally and internationally.

Keywords

Aflatoxin, Rice, Millet, Fonio, Sesame