Chromatographic Techniques for Estimation of Aflatoxins in Food Commodities

Aflatoxins, produced mainly by Aspergillus flavus Aspergillus parasiticus, have been documented as one of the major food contaminants throughout the world. Because of their toxic nature, these food contaminants have acknowledged considerable attention in recent years. Among the different types of Aflatoxins, the most prevalent and predominant Aflatoxins are AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2, AFM1, AFM2 which are considered the more lethal as compared to others. Several analytical and immunological methods are available for testing and estimating aflatoxins in different food commodities. However, chromatographic techniques have been considered superior regarding the estimation of aflatoxins both qualitatively and quantitatively. Chromatographic techniques have numerous applications for the separation and identification of chemical and biological compounds in food industry. It has grown to be the most popular and versatile of all analytical techniques in laboratories used for the analysis of multiple components in different matrices. For preliminary qualitative detection of Aflatoxins, Thin layer chromatography (TLC) is considered the best analytical technique which is being used broadly in food industry. However, liquid chromatographic techniques including High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Liquid chromatography-mass Spectrometry (LC–MS) are the best analytical techniques developed so far for the quantification of Aflatoxins in food commodities.