ANALYSIS OF UNITED-KINGDOM PURCHASED SPICES FOR AFLATOXINS USING AN IMMUNOAFFINITY COLUMN CLEANUP PROCEDURE FOLLOWED BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS AND POSTCOLUMN DERIVATIZATION WITH PYRIDINIUM BROMIDE PERBROMIDE

An immunoaffinity column method has been developed to analyse aflatoxins with greater than 70% recoveries from a variety of spices purchased from local stores. Samples of chilli powder, ground ginger, black pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika and cumin were initially screened semi-quantitatively; this provides a rapid means of analysing a large number of spice samples. Those samples that had aflatoxin levels greater than 1 ppb (w/w) total aflatoxins were re-analysed quantitatively by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using a newly developed post-column derivatisation procedure with pyridinium bromide perbromide (PBPB). Some samples of spices, in particular chilli powder, were found to contain aflatoxins at 20 ppb (w/w) or higher.