• Mycobiology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.339-345
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• 2014

During 2011~2013, a total of 729 samples for 19 types of medicinal plant were collected from Seoulyekryungsi in Seoul, Korea, and investigated for the presence of aflatoxins. The samples were analyzed using immunoaffinity column cleanup and high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to a fluorescence detector after post-column derivatization. Aflatoxins were found in 124 out of the 729 analyzed samples: 65 containing aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), 24 with aflatoxin B2 (AFB2), 15 with aflatoxin G1 (AFG1), and 20 samples with aflatoxin G2 (AFG2). The ranges for positive samples were $0.1{\sim}404.7{\mu}g/kg$ for AFB1, $0.1{\sim}10.0{\mu}g/kg$ for AFB2, $0.1{\sim}635.3{\mu}g/kg$ for AFG1, $0.1{\sim}182.5{\mu}g/kg$ for AFG2, and $0.1{\sim}1,043.9{\mu}g/kg$ for total aflatoxins. Most of the medicinal plant samples (721, 98.9%) were below legal limits, but 8 samples exceeded the legal limits of 10 and $15{\mu}g/kg$ established by the Korean standard for AFB1 and total aflatoxins (the sum of AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2), respectively.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.52-56
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• 1992

The ability of chemicals, 10% sodium hypochlorite, 28% ammonium hydroxide, 5% sodium hydroxide, 5% sodium bicarbonate, 0.1% hydrochloric acid, 5% hydrogen peroxide, and 5% acetone, to destroy aflatoxins in laboratory waste water containing 3.26 ppb of B$_{1}$ 7.64 ppb of B$_{6}$3 ppb of G$_{1}$, and 11.39 ppb of G$_{2}$ with the total of 29.11 ppb was investigated. High performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) was used for the separation and quantitation of aflatoxins. Treatment for 2 hours by the chemicals affected the destruction of aflatoxins and the most effective chemical was 10% sodium hypochlorite (p<0.05). Sodium hypochlorite concentrations more than 1% significantly reduced aflatoxin B$_{2}$, G$_{1}$, G$_{2}$ and total aflatoxins and more than 3% reduced B$_{1}$ (p<0.05). No further significant decreases were observed above the concentration of 5% for all 4 aflatoxins. Complete destruction of aflatoxins B$_{2}$, G_{1}$, and G$_{2}$ was achieved by 5% sodium hypochlorite at 48 hours and B$_{1}$ at 72 hours.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.488-493
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• 2007

A survey for total aflatoxins (aflatoxins $B_1$, $B_2$, $G_1$, and $G_2$) was conducted on 245 cereals and processed cereal products, and 148 nuts and processed nut products in Korea, for a total of 393 commercialized ed samples. The total aflatoxins were quantified by the immunoaffinity column clean-up method with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) - fluorescence detection (FLD), and were confirmed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Total aflatoxins(AFs) were detected in 37 samples (9.4% incidence), including 2 millet samples, 1 mixed cereal (sunsik), 1 powdered malt sample, 2 processed cereal products, 6 peanut samples, 22 peanut butter samples, and 1 sample each of almonds, adlay tea, and a processed nut product. The contamination levels were $0.04-2.65{\mu}g/kg$ for aflatoxin $B_1$, and $0.04-5.51{\mu}g/kg$ for total aflatoxins. Finally, LC-MS/MS analysis of the contaminated samples was conducted to confirm the detected aflatoxins, and all 37 samples showing aflatoxins by HPLC-FLD were confirmed by LC-MS/MS.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.5167-5170
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• 2012

Chilean red chili peppers contaminated with aflatoxins were reported in a previous study. If the development of gallbladder cancer (GBC) in Chile is associated with a high level of consumption of aflatoxin-contaminated red chili peppers, such peppers from other countries having a high GBC incidence rate may also be contaminated with aflatoxins. We aimed to determine whether this might be the case for red chili peppers from Bolivia and Peru. A total of 7 samples (3 from Bolivia, 4 from Peru) and 3 controls (2 from China, 1 from Japan) were evaluated. Aflatoxins were extracted with acetonitrile:water (9:1, v/v) and eluted through an immuno-affinity column. The concentrations of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2 were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and then the detected aflatoxins were identified using HPLC-mass spectrometry. In some but not all of the samples from Bolivia and Peru, aflatoxin B1 or aflatoxins B1 and B2 were detected. In particular, aflatoxin B1 or total aflatoxin concentrations in a Bolivian samples were above the maximum levels for aflatoxins in spices proposed by the European Commission. Red chili peppers from Bolivia and Peru consumed by populations having high GBC incidence rates would appear to be contaminated with aflatoxins. These data suggest the possibility that a high level of consumption of aflatoxin-contaminated red chili peppers is related to the development of GBC, and the association between the two should be confirmed by a case-control study.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.52-60
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• 2010

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC/MS) have been widely used to quantify aflatoxins in food, but these methods are expensive, time-consuming, unsuitable for analysis of the routine screening of large sample numbers and require derivatization and high level techniques to perform. The objective of this study is to detect aflatoxins in a large number of foods by a high efficient analytical system of combined enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for screening and LC/MS/MS for confirmation. The samples spiked individually with aflatoxin $B_1$ (0.5 and 1.0 ng/g) and total aflatoxins (10 ng/g) were analyzed by ELISA and LC/MS/ MS, and the recoveries for ELISA and LC/MS/MS were 71.8~119.2% and 70.8~135.3%, respectively. A total of 378 samples (grains, nuts, soybean and fermented soybean foods, pepper and fermented pepper foods) were purchased from the six major cities in Korea and analyzed by ELISA-LC/MS/MS system. Twenty two (5.8%; peanut: 11, pistachio: 2, walnut: 6, almond: 1, pepper powder: 1, pepper paste: 1) out of 378 samples were screened as aflatoxin B1 positive by ELISA, but, 4 (1.1%; peanut: 2, pistachio:1, pepper powder: 1) out of the 22 samples screened were confirmed as aflatoxins positive at levels of 1.02~52.79 ng/g by LC/MS/MS. ELISA-LC/MS/MS system provides a more rapid, accurate and cost-effective method for the detection of aflatoxins in large number of samples.

• Mycobiology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.278-282
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• 2011

The objective of this study was to find useful fungi with ${\alpha}$-amylase activity from the Korean traditional nuruk for the quality of traditional Korean alcoholic beverage. In this study, 165 samples of traditional nuruk were collected from 170 regions throughout Korea and the fungi were isolated to a total of 384 strains. In order to investigate the effect of microflora on nuruk, ${\alpha}$-amylase activity, saccharogenic power (SP), starch hydrolysis activity and acid producing activity were evaluated. Ten strains were selected by ${\alpha}$-amylase activity, which ranged from 458.47 to 1,202.75 U/g. The size of the discolored zone for the starch hydrolysis activity of each fungus ranged from 0.3 to 2 cm. The SP of the 10 strains ranged from 228.8 to 433.4 SP. Of the 10 stains, three were identified as Aspergillus oryzae, two as Aspergillus flavus, two as Lichtheimia sp., one as Rhizopus oryzae and two as other strains. The total aflatoxins present in the nuruks were examined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The 10 nuruks had less than 1.11 ppb of aflatoxins.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.428-432
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• 1999

This study was performed to investigate the possible effect of sunlight on the reduction or degradation of mycelia and aflatoxins. The mycelia and aflatoxins were produced by Aspergillus parasiticus ATCC 15517 in a yeast-extract sucrose broth (YES) and potato-dextrose agar (PDA) and then exposed to sunlight. The weight of mycelia was decreased to 76.8% in 8 hours and to 66.7% in 168 hours(p<0.05). The total aflatoxin level was significantly decreased to below 50% (46.3% in the YES broth and 49.6% in the PDA) in 8 hours (p<0.05). After 168 hours, a 90.4％ degradation of aflatoxin in the YES broth and a 77.2% degradation of aflatoxin in the PDA was observed, respectively (p<0.01). The results showed that the degradation ratios of total aflatoxin level increased with increased exposure time to sunlight. These results indicate that sunlight could be an effective factor in aflatoxin degradation although its effect on mycelia was less pronounced.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.158-167
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• 2013

This study was carried out to assess the safety of cereals and their products (20 species, 205 samples) distributed in Gyeonggi province by analyzing contamination levels such as exposure frequency of Aflatoxins and Deoxynivalenol (DON). Aflatoxins were detected in 16 (8%) samples in total with a range of 0.01~27.88 ${\mu}g/kg$, including 3 of 9 bake flour (33%), 2 of 6 dried corn (33%), 3 of 12 frying flour (25%) and 2 of 11 sorghum (18%). DON was found in 56 (27%) samples including 11 of 13 adlay (85%), 6 of 8 wheat (75%), 6 of 10 processed corn for popcorn (60%), 6 of 11 sorghum (55%) and 7 of 16 barley (44%) with a range of 2.2~754.4 ${\mu}g/kg$. In particular, both Aflatoxins and DON were detected in 8 samples (2 millet, 2 wheat, 1 sorghum, 1 adlay, 1 dried corn, 1 bake flour) simultaneously. As a result of this study, we found that an adult is exposed to Aflatoxins of $0.80({\times})10^{-3}{\mu}g/kg$ b.w./day and DON of 0.18 ${\mu}g/kg$ b.w./day. The quantity of exposure to DON amounted to 18.5 percentage level compared with PMTDI 1 ${\mu}g/kg$ b.w./day suggested on JECFA, therefore we can assess that the possibility of health risks by intake cereals distributed in Gyeonggi province is low. However the concentration of Aflatoxins in one dried corn was 27.88 ${\mu}g/kg$ which was over the maximum residue limits (MRL) suggested on internal and external level, the monitoring about mycotoxin should be conducted on continuously.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.65-72
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• 2010

We used fluorescence detector to analyse total aflatoxins (G1, G2, B1, B2) with TFA (Trifluoroacetic acid) derivation method and PHRED (Photochemical reactor enhanced detection) method. PHRED method was superior in reproduction and convenience, but TFA derivation method was superior in selectivity and sensitivity. The recovery rate of aflatoxin B1, B2, G1 were more than 80%, and G2 was more than 70%. The detection limit of B1, B2, G1 and G2 were respectively 0.05, 0.05, 0.2 and $0.1\;{\mu}g/kg$. Confirmed method was used to analyse total aflatoxins in total 316 items as 9 kinds 137 dried fruits and 10 kinds 179 spices. By the result, Aflatoxins were detected in 27 dried fruits (19.7%) and in 87 spices (48.6%).

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.267-274
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• 2017

This paper deals with the natural occurrence of total aflatoxins ($B_1$, $B_2$, $G_1$, and $G_2$) in commercial herbs for food and medicine. To monitor aflatoxins in commercial herbs for food and medicine not included in the specifications of Food Code, a total of 62 samples of 6 different herbs (Bombycis Corpus, Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, Menthae Herba, Nelumbinis Semen, Polygalae Radix, Zizyphi Semen) were collected from Yangnyeong market in Seoul, Korea. The samples were treated by the immunoaffinity column clean-up method and quantified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with on-line post column photochemical derivatization (PHRED) and fluorescence detection (FLD). The analytical method for aflatoxins was validated by accuracy, precision and detection limits. The method showed recovery values in the 86.9~114.0% range and the values of percent coefficient of variaton (CV%) in the 0.9~9.8% range. The limits of detection (LOD) and quantitation (LOQ) in herb were ranged from 0.020 to $0.363{\mu}g/kg$ and from 0.059 to $1.101{\mu}g/kg$, respectively. Of 62 samples analyzed, 6 semens (the original form of 2 Nelumbinis Semen and 2 Zizyphi Semen, the powder of 1 Nelumbinis Semen and 1 Zizyphi Semen) were aflatoxin positive. Aflatoxins $B_1$ or $B_2$ were detected in all positive samples, and the presence of aflatoxins $G_1$ and $G_2$ were not detected. The amount of total aflatoxins ($B_1$, $B_2$, $G_1$, and $G_2$) in the powder and original form of Nelumbinis Semen and Zizyphi Semen were observed around $ND{\sim}21.8{\mu}g/kg$, which is not regulated presently in Korea. The 56 samples presented levels below the limits of detection and quantitation.