Selection of a Suitable Method for Analysis of Aflatoxins in Date Fruits

Fruits of the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) are a vital component of the diet in most of the Arabian countries, but whether dates in the market are contaminated with aflatoxins is unknown. As screening will depend on accurate detection, the available AOAC Methods-with slight modification-for the recovery of aflatoxins were examined. The Romer minicolumn method failed to detect any aflatoxin in contaminated date fruits. Using the HPLC and postcolumn derivatization procedure, the contaminants branch (CB) method was found to give average recoveries of 75.7 and 83.5% for date varieties Lulu and Naghal, respectively. The recovery of total aflatoxins by the Best Food (BF) extraction and purification method was about 35% less than with the CB method.