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Mycotoxins are the toxic metabolites produced by some species of mould genera such as Aspergillus, Penicillium and Fusarium. Mycotoxins are carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic and immunosuppressive for the most animal species and humans. Humans are exposed by aflatoxins and ochratoxin A via foods such as milk, cereals and various spices. The objective of this study was to determine the aflatoxin and ochratoxin A (OTA) contents of Iranian (Sabzevar) red pepper using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detector and Immunoaffinity column clean-up. An isocratic mobile phase of water–acetonitrile–methanol (60:25:15, v/v/v), and acetonitrile–water–acetic acid (51:47:2, v/v/v) with a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min was used for aflatoxins and ochratoxin A determination, respectively. Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were respectively, 0.1 and 0.3 μg/kg for AFB1 and AFB2, 0.14 and 0.45 μg/kg for AFG1 and AFG2, 0.15 and 0.5 μg/kg for OTA. The values of average recoveries of mycotoxins were 71.1–96.2%. When AFB1 and AFG1 were added to red pepper at the level of 10 μg/kg, AFB2 and AFG2 at the level of 2 μg /kg and OTA at the level of 5 μg/kg, the recovery ranges of 82.7–89.2% for AFB1, 79.3–114.2% for AFB2, 66.5–71.9% for AFG1, 66.3–92.5% for AFG2 and 61.1–80% for OTA were obtained. 36 samples of pepper were collected from the farm and were dried by sun up to standard moisture (Max 11%). Total aflatoxins (AFs) were detected in 25 out of 36 samples (69.4% of incidence) and the contamination levels were 0.4-15.6 μg/kg. The highest incidence of contamination was aflatoxin B1 and was found in 25 out of 36 samples. Seven (19.5%) and three (8.34%) out of 36 samples had levels above the regulatory limits according to the European :union: for AFB1 (5 μg/kg) and total aflatoxins (10 μg/kg), respectively.  OTA was detected in six samples (16.7%) at the ranging from 0.74-2.17 μg/kg. None of the samples had OTA levels higher than the legal acceptable limits.  

Keywords: Red pepper, Aflatoxins, Ochratoxin A, High performance liquid chromatography

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