*Department of Chemistry, University of Asmara, P.O. Box 1220 Asmara, Eritrea
**Quality Control Laboratories, Ministry of Commerce, Khartoum, Sudan. Department of Chemistry, College of Education, King Faisal University P.O.Box 1759, Hofuf 31982, Saudi Arabia.
ABSTRACT
This study was carried out in order to assess the level of aflatoxin contamination on locally marketed peanuts and peanut products collected over two seasons from different sites in the Central Region (Sudan). Samples were analyzed using HPLC and TLC, with emphasis on examination of the degree of precision of the two techniques. The mean percentage aflatoxin recovery was 95% for HPLC and 79% for TLC. The lowest limits of detection, for total aflatoxins, on spiked peanuts were found to be 0.4 ىg/kg and 0.8 ىg/kg for HPLC and TLC respectively. Among the 400 samples of each peanut type expected to be naturally contaminated, the percentage aflatoxin contamination was 2%, 64%, 14% and 11 % for peanut kernels, peanut butter, peanut cake and roasted peanuts respectively. The highest aflatoxin levels were detected in peanut butter (32-54 ىg/kg) and the lowest in peanut kernels (3-8 ىg/kg), while peanut cakes and roasted peanuts showed a moderate level of contamination (7-10 ىg/kg), and (4-12 ىg/kg) respectively. Within all contaminated samples and irrespective of the peanut type, the presence of aflatoxin B1 was always predominant, followed by G1, B2, and G2.