Aflatoxins in spices marketed in Portugal

Seventy-nine prepackaged samples of 12 different types of spice powders (five cardamom, five cayenne pepper, eight chilli, five cloves, seven cumin, five curry) powder, five ginger, five mustard, 10 nutmeg, 12 paprika, five saffron and seven white pepper) were selected from supermarkets and ethnic shops in Lisbon (Portugal) for estimation of aflatoxins by immunoaffinity column clean-up followed by HPLC. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) was detected in 34 samples of prepackaged spices (43.0%). All of the cayenne pepper samples were contaminated with levels ranging from 2 to 32 microg AFB1/kg. Three nutmeg samples contained levels ranging from 1 to 5 microg/kg, three samples had levels ranging from 6 to 20 microg/kg, and there were two with 54 microg/kg and 58 microg/ kg. Paprika contained levels of aflatoxin B1 ranging from 1 to 20 microg/kg. Chilli, cumin, curry powder, saffron and white pepper samples had levels ranging from 1 to 5 microg/kg. Aflotoxins were not detected in cardamon, cloves, ginger and mustard. None of the samples analysed contained aflatoxins B2, G1 and G2.