Survey of aflatoxins in retail samples of whole and ground black and white peppercorns

A total of 126 local and imported samples of commercial white and black pepper in Malaysia were analysed for aflatoxins B-1, B-2, G(1) and G(2) (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2) content using high- performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a fluorescence detector (FD). An acetonitrile- methanol- water (17 : 29 : 54; v/v) mixture was used as a mobile phase and clean-up was using an immunoaffinity column (IAC). Seventy out of 126 (55.5%) samples were contaminated with total aflatoxins, although only low levels of aflatoxins were found ranging from 0.1 to 4.9 ng g(-1). Aflatoxin B1 showed the highest incidence of contamination and was found in all contaminated samples. There was a significant difference between type of samples and different brands (p < 0.05). The results showed black peppers were more contaminated than white peppers.