A Survey of the Presence of Aflatoxins in Herb Medicines

A survey of total aflatoxin levels was conducted on 145 samples(carthamiflos, thujae semen, giycyrrhizae radix et rhizoma) collected in Yakyeang markets in Seoul. Aflatoxin levels were quantified by the immunoaffinity column clean-up method followed by performance liguid chromatography(HPLC)-fluorescence detector(FLD). Aflatoxins were found in 10(6.9%)samples including 5 Arecae semen, 4 Thujae semen, 1 Zizyphi semen with a range of . Generally These results show that the contamination level of aflatoxins in Herb Medicines consumed in Korea is high compared with the standard in Korea Herb Medicine Code( as aflatoxin B1). It is considered that aflatoxin concentration was increased in herb medicines during a storage and drying in herb medicines examined