Rapid method for detecting aflatoxins in peanuts

The thin‐layer chromatographic procedure for detecting and quantifying aflatoxin in peanuts is too time‐consuming, costly, and difficult to be practical for use by untrained personnel. A method based on millicolumn chromatography was tested and found to be both rapid and simple. Columns are prepared by filling a length of 4‐mm glass tubing with silica gel to a depth of about 4.5 cm. The millicolumn is developed in a chloro‐form‐methanol extract of a peanut sample. If aflatoxin is present, a blue fluorescent band at the lower end of the column is observed when the column is exposed to long‐wave ultraviolet radiation. Sensitivity is in the order of 5 ppb and an assay can be completed in 15–25 min. Some degree of quantification is possible by comparison with columns developed in extracts with known aflatoxin contents.