Short communication: Nutmegs - Contamination with aflatoxins. Study for the evaluation of raw material

Nutmegs are not free of aflatoxins. This conclusion could be drawn from stu dies at the Institute of Animal Nutrition, Hohenheim University, by order o f the Fachverband der Gewurzindustrie e. V. in Bonn. The objective of the s tudy was to obtain information for a spot sampling plan for nutmegs. The de termination of aflatoxins was carried out by thin layer chromatography. No aflatoxins were detected in the first study (whole nutmegs), while in the s econd study (shrunked nutmegs, especially Siauw) 7 % of the samples exceede d the maximum allowed amount of 2 mu g aflatoxin B-1/kg nutmegs. This means that up to 4 samples out of 60 could be contaminated with a level of signi ficance at P < 0.05. If these are pockets of contaminated nutmegs in the wh ole sample each spot sampling includes the risk that these nuts will not be part of it. A further increase of spot sampling results in higher costs an d more time for analyses.