Survey of breakfast and infant cereals for aflatoxins B 1 , B 2 , G 1 and G 2

Three hundred and forty-nine breakfast and infant cereal samples were collected at retail level across Canada from 2002 to 2005. They included rice-, soy-, barley-based and mixed-grain infant cereals, corn-, wheat-, rice-based and mixed-grain breakfast cereals, and were analysed for aflatoxins B-1, B-2, G(1) and G(2) using a modified AOAC International official method. An immunoaffinity column was used for the cleanup and purification of extracts. Determination of aflatoxins was by LC using post-column derivatization with pyridinium hydrobromide perbromide and fluorescence detection. Results indicated that 50% of both breakfast and infant cereals had detectable levels (limit of detection = 0.002 ng g(-1)) of aflatoxin B-1, which is the most toxic of the four toxins. The levels found varied from 0.002 to 1.00 ng g(-1) for aflatoxin B-1, from 0.002 to 0.14 ng g(-1) for aflatoxin B-2, from 0.008 to 0.27 ng g(-1) for aflatoxin G(1), and from 0.008 to 0.048 ng g(-1) for aflatoxin G(2). Only 4% of the breakfast cereals and 1% of the infant cereals had aflatoxin B1 levels exceeding 0.1 ng g(-1), which is the European Union maximum limit for aflatoxin B1 in baby foods and processed cereal-based foods for infants and young children.