Occurrence of Aflatoxin in Cyperus esculentus (Tiger Nut) Sold and Consumed Raw in Kaduna

Abstract

Twenty (20) samples of tiger nut collected from different food stuff markets in Kaduna were subjected to mycological analysis to determine the fungal load and to isolate the aflatoxin producing organisms and to analyze for aflatoxin presence using thin layer chromatography (TLC), enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques. The result of the mycological analysis showed that the samples had an average fungal load of 1.8 X 10 3 cfug -1 and the aflatoxin producing fungi isolated were Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus parasiticus and Aspergillus nomius. The TLC result showed that two of the samples analysed yielded blue fluorescence spots on the plate. The ELISA result showed that seven samples contained aflatoxin with concentration varying from 0.2µg/kg to 23.0µg/kg.  The result is then confirmed by the detection of the functional groups ,  C=O, C-O, and C-H  which are found in the structure of aflatoxin using FTIR.