Screening of aflatoxins in Shiro and ground red pepper in Addis Ababa

Aflatoxin contamination of Shiro and ground red pepper samples collected from government owned good stores, retail shops and open markets in. Addis Ababa was investigated. From sixty samples each of ground red pepper and Shiro, 8 (13.33%) and 5 (8.33%) were positive for aflatoxins, respectively. Only aflatoxin B1 was detected in both types of foodstuff. There was no significant difference between the proportion of aflatoxin contained in both ground red pepper and Shiro samples. Aflatoxin levels in Shiro and ground red pepper positive samples ranged from 100 to 500 ppb and 250 to 525 ppb, respectively. The mean levels of contamination by aflatoxin in ground red pepper was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than that of Shiro. Though statistically not significant, the number of positive samples were more in samples from open markets when compared to samples from government owned food stores and retail shops. Conclusions are drawn that ground red pepper and shiro traded in Addis Ababa can be considered as high risk commodities for which routine survey of aflatoxins may be necessary.