DETECTION OF MOLD CONTAMINATION AND AFLATOXIN IN ROSTED PEANUT USING ELISA TECHNIQUE

Abstract

Samples of roasted, salted and fermented peanut collected from local stores at Baghdad city. These samples were found contaminated with high number of fungi the most frequent species was Aspergillus flavus. The results also showed that samples of roasted and salted peanut were contaminated with Aflatoxin B1 at concentration 5.6 and 5.5µg/kg respectively. However the results showed no Aflatoxin B1 in the fermented peanut samples. Enzyme – linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect antibodies in suspension of A. flavus at concentration of 1.5µg/ml and it has detected mycelial protein extract of A. flavus at concentration of 0.025µg/ml. ELISA technique was used to detect A. flavus inoculated to peanut sample at 1µg/ml., while the plate culture method could not detect the fungus at concentration, below 5 µg /ml. The effects of storage on roasted peanut at laboratory with different treatments show no fungal contamination after eight months of storage at 19- 47°C. It has been noticed that the addition of citric and sorbic acids as antifungal agents prevent fungal growth and affect Aflatoxin B1 production.