Aflatoxin Contamination in Hazelnut Oil Obtained from Hazelnuts Containing High Levels of Aflatoxin

In this study, the issue of whether the aflatoxin in high contaminated hazelnut has been passed to the hazelnut oil during production or not has been investigated. The oil and oil cake of the hazelnut samples that contained aflatoxin at a high level were obtained for the study. The aflatoxin concentrations in hazelnut, hazelnut oil and oil cake were measured, and how much of the aflatoxin in the hazelnut was passed into the oil and oil cake has been determined. Aflatoxin analysis was performed using AOAC (Association of Official Analytical Chemists Method): 991.31 method, which is one of the validated method used in aflatoxin analysis in hazelnuts. The highest aflatoxin concentration in hazelnut oil has been determined as AFB1: 0.93, AFG1: 0.52, AFB2: 0.47 and AFG2: 0.21 μg kg-1. At the end of the study, it was determined that although the hazelnuts of which the hazelnut oil was obtained contained aflatoxin at a very high level, it was passed to the oil at very low levels below the maximum limits defined by the European Union, and almost all of it remained in the oil cake. Aflatoxin in hazelnut is passed to hazelnut oil at very low amount. 

___

  • Aktaş A, Öztürk E & Hatırlı S (2011) Türkiye fındık tarımında kar etkinsizliğinin analizi. Journal of Agricultural Sciences 17(3): 230-240
  • Alasalvar C, Amaral J S, Satır G & Shahidi F (2009). Lipid characteristics and essential minerals of native Turkish hazelnut varieties (corylus avellana L.). Food Chemistry 113(4): 919-925
  • Alasalvar C, Shahidi F, Amaral, J S& Oliveira B P P (2009). Compositional characteristics and health effects of hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.): An overview. In C Alasalvar & F Shahidi (Eds.), Treenuts: Compositions, phytochemicals, and health effects. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group 185-214
  • Asghar M, Ahmed A, Iqbal J, Zahir E & Nauman H (2016). Fungal flora and aflatoxin contamination in Pakistani wheat kernels (Triticum aestivum L.) and their attribution in seed germination. Journal of Food and Drug Analysis 24: 635-643
  • AOAC (1991). Association of Official Analytical Chemists. Official method 991.31. Aflatoxins in maize, raw peanuts and peanut butter (immunoaffinity column method). Journal of AOAC International 74: 81-88
  • AOAC (2013). Association of Official Analytical Chemists. Guidelines for dietary supplements and botanicals. Appendix K, p. 8. AOAC International, Gaithersburg, MD, USA. Retrieved in January, 23, 2016 from http://www.eoma.aoac.org/app_k.pdf
  • Aycicek H, Aksoy A & Saygı S (2005). Determination of aflatoxin levels in some dairy and food products which consumed in Ankara, Turkey. Food Control 16(3): 263-266
  • Baltaci C, Ilyasoǧlu H & Cavrar S (2012). Aflatoxin levels in raw and processed hazelnuts in Turkey. Food Additives and Contaminants: Part B Surveillance 5(2): 83-86
  • Basaran P & Ozcan M (2009). Occurrence of Aflatoxıns in Various Nuts Commercialized in Turkey. Journal of Food Safety 29: 95-105
  • Benitez-Sánchez P, León-Camacho M & Aparicio R (2003). A comprehensive study of hazelnut oil composition with comparisons to other vegetable oils, particularly olive oil. European Food Research and Technology 218(1): 13-19
  • Binder E, Handl J, Tan L, Chin L & Richard J (2007). Worldwide occurrence of mycotoxins in commodities, feeds and feed ingredients. Animal Feed Science and Technology 137(3-4): 265-282
  • Bircan C, Barringer S, Ulken U & Pehlivan R (2008). Aflatoxin levels in dried figs, nuts and paprika for export from Turkey. International Journal of Food Science & Technology 43(8): 1492-1498
  • Cavaliere C, Foglia P, Guarino C, Nazzari M, Samperi R & Laganà A (2007). Determination of aflatoxins in olive oil by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Analytica Chimica Acta 596(1): 141-148
  • Codex Alimentarius (1993). Pesticide residues in food Vol. 2. FAO/WHO, Rome, Italy Daradimos E, Marcaki, P & Koupparis M (2000). Evaluation and validation of two fluorometric HPLC methods for the determination of aflatoxin B1 in olive oil. Food Additives and Contaminants 17(1): 65-73
  • D'Mello J P F & Macdonald A M C (1997) Mycotoxins. Animal Feed Science and Technology 69(1): 155-166
  • Elzupir A, Elhussein A, Suliman M, Ibrahim I & Fadul M (2010). Aflatoxins levels in vegetable oils in Khartoum State, Sudan. Mycotoxin Research 26(2): 69-73 European Commission Regulation (2010). EC No. 165/2010 of 26 February 2010. Amending Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006 setting maximum levels for certain contaminants in foodstuffs as regards aflatoxins. Official Journal of the European Union, EU publication, L 50/8
  • Ferracane R, Tafuri A, Logieco A, Galvano F, Balzano D & Ritieni A (2007). Simultaneous determination of aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A and their natural occurrence in Mediterranean virgin olive oil. Food Additives and Contaminants 24(2): 173-180
  • Gurses M (2006). Mycoflora and aflatoxin content of hazelnuts, walnuts, peanuts, almonds and roasted chickpeas (LEBLEBI) sold in Turkey. International Journal of Food Properties 9(3): 395-399
  • Idris Y, Mariod A, Elnour I & Mohamed A (2010). Determination of aflatoxin levels in Sudanese edible oils. Food And Chemical Toxicology 48: 2539-2541 International Conference on Harmonization (2006). Harmonized tripartite guideline, validation of analytical procedures, text and methodology. ICH Q2R1, 12e4
  • Lavkor I & Biçici M (2015). Osmaniye'de yetiştirilen yerfıstıklarında hasat, hasat sonrası, kurutma ve depo öncesi dönemlerinde aflatoksin oluşumu. Journal Of Agricultural Sciences 21(3): 394-405
  • Mariod A & Idris Y (2015). Aflatoxin B1 levels in groundnut and sunflower oils in different Sudanese states. Food Additives and Contaminants: Part B Surveillance 8(4): 266-270
  • Miletic R, Mitrovic M & Rakicevic M (2009). Contrasting fruit properties of hazelnut cultivars grown on different rootstocks. Acta Hortic 845: 283-286
  • Milhome M, Lima C, de Lima L, Lima F, Sousa D & Nascimento R (2014). Occurrence of aflatoxins in cashew nuts produced in northeastern Brazil. Food Control 42: 34-37
  • Özkal S G, Salgın U & Yener M E (2005). Super critical carbondioxide extraction of hazelnut oil. Journal of Food Engineering 69(2): 217-223
  • Özlüoymak Ö B (2014). Development of a UV-based imaging system for real-time detection and separation of dried figs contaminated with aflatoxins. Journal Of Agricultural Sciences 20(3): 302-316
  • Papachristou A & Markaki P (2004). Determination of ochratoxin A in virgin olive oils of Greek origin by immunoaffinity column clean-up and high-performance liquid hromatography. Food Additives and Contaminants 21(1): 85-92
  • Parcerisa J, Casals I, Boatella J, Codony R & Rafecas M (2000). Analysis of olive and hazelnut oil mixtures by high-performance liquid chromatography–atmospheric pressure chemica ionisation mass spectrometry of triacylglycerols and gas–liquidchromatography of non-saponifiable compounds (tocopherolsandsterols). Journal of Chromatography A 881(1): 149-158
  • Schmitzer V, Slatnar A, Veberic R, Stampar F & Solar A (2011). Roasting affects phenolic composition and antioxidative activity of hazelnuts (Corylus avellana L.). Journal of Food Science 76(1): 9-14
  • Şengül Ü (2016). Comparing determination methods of detection and quantification limits for aflatoxin analysis in hazelnut. Journal of Food and Drug Analysis 24(1): 56-62
  • Yang L, Liu Y, Miao H, Dong B, Yang N, Chang F, Yang L &. Sun J (2011). Determination of aflatoxins in edible oil from markets in Hebei Province of China by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Food Additives & Contaminants: Part B: Surveillance Communications 4(4): 244-247