A UK RETAIL SURVEY OF AFLATOXINS IN HERBS AND SPICES AND THEIR FATE DURING COOKING

A survey of aflatoxins in herbs and spices has been carried out and co oking experiments conducted to assess the stability of aflatoxin in sp ice sauces. Of 157 retail samples which included curry powders, pepper , cayenne pepper, chilli, paprika, ginger, cinnamon and coriander, nea rly 95% of samples contained below 10 mu g/kg total aflatoxins and onl y nine samples had higher levels. The highest concentration in a retai l sample was 48 mu g/kg in a chilli powder. In addition to retail samp ling, 14 consignments of whole chilli and chilli powder were sampled a t the port of entry. Only two samples, both chilli powder, were above 10 mu g/kg; containing 35 and 51 mu g/kg total aflatoxins. Cooking exp eriments showed that aflatoxin levels in spiced sauces are not reduced by domestic cooking with either microwave or conventional gas oven he ating.