AFLATOXIN DESTRUCTION BY MICROWAVE-HEATING

Microwaves were used in the present work in order to destroy pure afla toxins (model system), and yellow corn and peanuts containing aflatoxi ns (food system). Pure aflatoxins (B-1, B-2, G(1) and G(2)) were indiv idually coated on a silica gel and exposed to microwaves at various po wer settings and periods. The same technique was adopted for peanuts a nd yellow corn deliberately infected by Aspergillus flavus. The aflato xins were extracted, fractionated by thin-layer chromatographic techni que and quantitatively determined by spectrodensitometry. In all cases , the content of different aflatoxins in the deliberately infected yel low corn was in the decreasing order B-1 = G(1) > B-2 > G(2). Infected peanuts were characterized by the highest B-1 level, being approximat ely 3, 2, and 4.4 times as great as that in B-2, G(1) and G(2), respec tively. The rate of aflatoxin destruction of model and food systems in creased with the increase of microwave oven power setting (low, modera te and high) and exposure time to microwaves.