Determination of aflatoxins in food by overpressured-layer chromatography

Legislative measures for monitoring and control of aflatoxin levels in foods and foodstuffs have been introduced in many countries. The aim of the present work was to make developments in the field of aflatoxin analysis, focusing upon the use of overpressured-layer chromatography (OPLC) for quantitative determination. OPLC methods have been developed for the determination of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, G2 in different foods. These methods are suitable for sample clean-up and separation as well. Using OPLC we could analyze 10 samples simultaneously. The methods were investigated with fish, corn and wheat samples spiked with 2-10 ng/g aflatoxins. Quantitative evaluation of aflatoxins was accomplished by densitometry. Average recoveries from each food were greater than 73%. The OPLC technique seems to be a rapid, reproducible and cost-effective analysis for quantitative determination of aflatoxins in foods.