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Aflatoxin Contaminants Determination in Cold Storage Red Chilli and Ground Nut Using UHPLC for Safety Assessment

Export of groundnut and chilli products from India is ever-growing and necessitates continuous safety assessment. This study aimed to assay aflatoxin (AFs) contamination from the export quality groundnut and chilli produce using a UHPLC method. Categorized as branded, non-branded and cold storage samples were collected from retail shops and open markets of the Raichur region of South India. As a separate aim, we validated the method for AFB1 in both the groundnut and chilli matrices for linearity (0.993, 0.999), LOD (0.5 & 0.5µgkg-1), LOQ (5.0 & 2.0µgkg-1), recovery (90.66 per cent & 113.33 per cent), robustness (93.33 per cent & 112.66 per cent) and per cent residual (8.48 & 112.66) respectively. Standard linearity generated was in the range of 5- 50.0 ηgg-1 in groundnut and 0.5-10ηgg-1 in chilli matrix. Sixty-five per cent of the total chilli samples collected were infected by Aspergillus spp. and one sample showed AFB1 above the regulatory limit. The levels of AFB1 and total AFs in the contaminated dried chillies from branded, unbranded, cold storage and Radiofrequency treated were in the range of 1.895-29.653µgkg-1, 4.747-6.972µgkg-1, and 7.23-13.17µgkg-1, respectively. In contrast to chilli samples, seventeen per cent of the branded groundnut samples showed an AFB1 concentration of13.59µgkg-1. This study showed that the cold storage chilli and groundnut were aflatoxin-free and thereby safe compared to the branded and non branded samples.