Aflatoxins contamination in spices and processed spice products commercialized in Korea

Abstract A survey for total aflatoxins (aflatoxins B 1 , B 2 , G 1 , and G 2 ) was conducted on 88 spices and processed spice products commercialized in Korea. The presence of aflatoxins was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detector using immunoaffinity column clean-up. Total aflatoxins (AFs) are detected in 12 samples (13.6% of incidence) including seven red pepper powder, two red pepper pastes ( Kochujang ), two curry and one ginger product. The contamination levels are 0.08–4.45 μg/kg as aflatoxin B 1 and 0.08–4.66 μg/kg as AFs. The liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) analysis on contaminated samples was conducted for the confirmation of detected aflatoxins. The 12 samples which showed aflatoxins by HPLC/FLD were confirmed as aflatoxins by LC–MS/MS.