The validation of a solid phase clean-up procedure for the analysis of aflatoxins in groundnut cake using HPLC

A solid-phase clean-up method for the determination of aflatoxins in groundnut cake has been statistically examined. The method involves the clean-up of an acetone and water (85 + 15) extract on a bonded-phase (PH) cartridge and quantification by HPLC with fluorescence detection following post-column derivatisation with iodine. Average recoveries were calculated as 84.1, 86.1, 88.0 and 82.1% with limits of detection of 2.7, 1.6, 2.5 and 3.2 μg/kg for aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2 respectively. This method was compared with the official AOAC (CB) method for its ability to determine the aflatoxin B1, and B2 contents of groundnut cake samples. The precision of the two methods was found not to be significantly different at the 5% level, but the PH method recorded significantly more aflatoxin B1. rect extraction of aflatoxins with aqueous acetone was also compared with a slurry extraction method. It was demonstrated that the slurry technique extracted significantly more aflatoxins B1 and B2; the precision of these two extraction methods was found not to differ significantly.