AFLATOXIN B-1 CONTAMINATION IN GROUNDNUT SAMPLES COLLECTED FROM DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHICAL REGIONS OF INDIA - A MULTICENTER STUDY

Under a multicentre study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical R esearch, 2062 samples of groundnut were collected from rural and urban areas of 11 states representing different geographical regions of the country. These samples were analysed for aflatoxin B-1 using the AOAC method. Analytical quality assurance between various participating la boratories was ensured through analysis of check-samples. Twenty-one p er cent of groundnut samples collected from 11 slates exceeded the per missible Indian regulatory limit of 30 mu g/kg. No statistically signi ficant difference in percentage of samples contaminated (>30 mu g/kg) was observed between pooled rural (22.9%) and urban (19.9%) data. Amon gst the 11 states, the minimum and maximum per cent contamination resp ectively (>30 mu g/kg) were observed to be 15.2 in the state of Andhra Pradesh and 28.3 in the state of Haryana. The maximum level of contam ination of 833 mu g/kg was observed in the state of Gujarat. The media n level of < 5 mu g/kg was observed in the states of Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. In all other states studied, th e median level was found to vary between 10 and 20 mu g/kg. The 90th p ercentile values were high in Andhra Pradesh (125 mu g/kg), Gujarat (1 11 mu g/kg) and Haryana (110 mu g/kg). In the remaining states the 90t h percentile value ranged from 60 to 93 mu g/kg. Analysis of pooled da ta showed the percentages of samples exceeding the level of contaminat ion of 5 mu g/kg and 15 mu g/kg, respectively were 44.9% and 37.4% whi ch therefore, showed a marked increase when compared with the per cent of samples exceeding 30 mu g/kg in the overall data.