A smartphone-enabled visual platform for detecting aflatoxins in peanut oil using colorimetric analysis coupled with...

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Food Safety
• Toxicology

Background:

• Aflatoxins (AFs) are toxic secondary metabolites produced by fungi, posing significant health risks.
• Accurate and rapid detection of AFs in food products like peanut oil is crucial for public health and regulatory compliance.
• Existing methods for AF detection can be time-consuming, require specialized equipment, or rely on antibodies, limiting their application in rapid screening.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a rapid, sensitive, and antibody-free colorimetric platform for the simultaneous determination of total aflatoxins (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2) in peanut oil.
• To establish a dual-mode detection system utilizing both UV-vis spectrophotometry and smartphone-based colorimetry for aflatoxin quantification.
• To validate the proposed method for its potential in onsite and fast screening applications.

Main Methods:

• Development of a colorimetric assay based on the Emerson reaction, where aflatoxins react with 4-aminoantipyrine in the presence of an oxidizer to form green condensates.
• Integration of magnetic dummy imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) for sample purification, enhancing sensitivity and selectivity.
• Dual-mode detection using UV-vis spectrophotometry and a smartphone-based colorimetric analysis system.

Main Results:

• The developed colorimetric methods demonstrated a good linear relationship between signal response and aflatoxin concentration.
• The smartphone-based colorimetry achieved a wide detection range of 0.5-57 μg/kg.
• A low limit of detection (LOD) of 0.21 μg/kg was obtained with the smartphone-based method, indicating high sensitivity.

Conclusions:

• The proposed Emerson reaction-based colorimetric platform, coupled with MISPE, provides a rapid, sensitive, and selective method for total aflatoxin determination in peanut oil.
• The dual-mode detection, especially the smartphone-based approach, offers a cost-effective and portable solution for onsite screening.
• This method holds significant promise for the fast and reliable detection of aflatoxins in food matrices, contributing to improved food safety.