IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i15p8015-d603897.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Occurrence of Aflatoxins in Edible Vegetable Seeds and Oil Samples Available in Pakistani Retail Markets and Estimation of Dietary Intake in Consumers

Author

Listed:
  • Muhammad Waqas

    (Department of Applied Chemistry, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan)

  • Shahzad Zafar Iqbal

    (Department of Applied Chemistry, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan)

  • Ahmad Faizal Abdull Razis

    (Natural Medicines and Products Research Laboratory, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia
    Department of Food Science, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia)

  • Wajeeha Pervaiz

    (Department of Applied Chemistry, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan)

  • Touheed Ahmad

    (Department of Applied Chemistry, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan)

  • Sunusi Usman

    (Natural Medicines and Products Research Laboratory, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia)

  • Nada Basheir Ali

    (Department of Food Science, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia)

  • Muhammad Rafique Asi

    (Food Toxicology Lab, NIAB, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan)

Abstract

Aflatoxins (AFs) are secondary metabolites toxic to humans as well as animals. The environmental conditions, conventional agricultural practices, and illiteracy are the main factors which favor the production of AFs in food and feed. In the current study 744 samples of vegetable seeds and oils (soybean, sunflower, canola, olive, corn, and mustard) were collected and tested for the presence of aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ) and total AFs. Liquid-liquid extraction was employed for the extraction of AFs from seeds and oil samples. Reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography equipped with fluorescence detection was used for the analysis. The results have shown that 92 (56.7%) samples of imported and 108 (57.0%) samples of local edible seeds were observed to be contaminated with AFs. All samples of edible seeds have AFB 1 levels greater than the proposed limit set by the European Union (EU, 2 µg/kg) and 12 (7.40%) samples of imported seeds and 14 (7.40%) samples of local seeds were found in the range ≥ 50 µg/kg. About 78 (43.3%) samples of imported edible oil and 103 (48.3%) sample of local edible oil were observed to be positive for AFs. Furthermore, 16 (8.88%) and six (3.33%) samples of imported vegetable oil have levels of total AFs in a range (21–50 µg/kg) and greater than 50 µg/kg, respectively. The findings indicate significant differences in AFs levels between imported and local vegetable oil samples (t = 22.27 and p = 0.009) at α = 0.05 and a significant difference in AFs levels were found between vegetable seeds and oil samples (t = −17.75, p = 0.009) at α = 0.05. The highest dietary intake was found for a local sunflower oil sample (0.90 µg/kg/day) in female individuals (16–22 age group). The results have shown considerably high levels of AFB1 and total AFs in seeds and oil samples and emphasise the need to monitor carefully the levels of these toxic substances in food and feed on regular basis.

Suggested Citation

  • Muhammad Waqas & Shahzad Zafar Iqbal & Ahmad Faizal Abdull Razis & Wajeeha Pervaiz & Touheed Ahmad & Sunusi Usman & Nada Basheir Ali & Muhammad Rafique Asi, 2021. "Occurrence of Aflatoxins in Edible Vegetable Seeds and Oil Samples Available in Pakistani Retail Markets and Estimation of Dietary Intake in Consumers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-12, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:15:p:8015-:d:603897
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/15/8015/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/15/8015/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kojima, Yasutomo & Parcell, Joe & Cain, Jewelwayne, 2016. "A Global Demand Analysis of Vegetable Oils for Food and Industrial Use: A Cross-Country Panel Data Analysis with Spatial Econometrics," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235744, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Ahmad Faizal Abdull Razis & Muhammed Muzammel Shehzad & Sunusi Usman & Nada Basheir Ali & Shahzad Zafar Iqbal & Nadia Naheed & Muhammad Rafique Asi, 2020. "Seasonal Variation in Aflatoxin Levels in Edible Seeds, Estimation of Its Dietary Intake and Vitamin E Levels in Southern Areas of Punjab, Pakistan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-14, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lippert, Christian & Feuerbacher, Arndt & Narjes, Manuel, 2021. "Revisiting the economic valuation of agricultural losses due to large-scale changes in pollinator populations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    2. Santeramo, Fabio Gaetano & Searle, Stephanie, 2019. "Linking soy oil demand from the US Renewable Fuel Standard to palm oil expansion through an analysis on vegetable oil price elasticities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 19-23.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:15:p:8015-:d:603897. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.