AFLATOXIN REMOVAL FROM PEANUT MEALS WITH COMMERCIAL AQUEOUS ETHYL-ALCOHOL

Removal of aflatoxin B1 (AF) from contaminated peanut meals with comme rcial aqueous ethyl alcohol (fuel alcohol) in an actual scale vessel w as tried in two experiments (TESTS 1 and 2) run in an oil mill in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. In TEST 1, 90-degrees GL alcohol (downgrad ed from commercial 96-degrees GL) heated to 75-degrees C was utilized to make three one hour-period extractions (each one using fresh alcoho l), with samples taken for AF analyses after each extraction. In TEST 2, straight commercial 96-degrees GL alcohol was used to make four ext ractions under the same conditions as in TEST 1 but without stopping t he process to take samples and also introducing a 30 min soaking perio d in the middle of each extraction. In this experiment, pieces (about 2 cm thick) and course ground meal were used to check the influence of size of material on the efficiency of AF extraction by the solvent. T wenty samples (10 of each type) were taken at the end of the process f or AF evaluation. The results showed that extraction of AF with commer cial aqueous ethyl alcohol in actual scale is time-dependent and techn ically feasible. 90-degrees GL alcohol removed 87.4% (average) of tota l AF content after three one-hour extraction periods. 96-degrees GL al cohol removed an average of 87.3% from the pieces and 95.3% from the c ourse ground meal after four one-hour extraction periods. Samples from the lower part of the vessel showed better AF removal than those from the upper part. It was also observed that coarse ground material allo ws a more efficient removal of AF than pieces. Protein content was eva luated before and during TEST 1 and showed a slight increase in mean v alues (from 60.19 to 63.79%).