Occurrence of toxigenic Aspergillus spp. and aflatoxins in selected food commodities of Asian origin sourced in the West of Scotland

The occurrence of Aspergillus moulds and aflatoxins in 12 commercially-available dried foods of Asian origin were examined. All food samples, except green beans and three types of dried fruit, contained multiple genera of moulds of which Aspergillus (55%) was the most frequently detected. Penicillium (15%), Rhizopus (11%), Mucor (3%), Monascus (1%), Eurotium (1%) and unidentified (14%) were also observed. The occurrence of aflatoxigenic moulds, however, did not correspond with the occurrence of aflatoxins in foods. Aflatoxigenic Aspergillus spp. (39 isolates) were recovered from long grain rice, fragrant rice, peanuts, black beans and black pepper. The predominant Aspergillus species was A. parasiticus (61%) while Aspergillus oryzae (3%), Aspergillus utus (5%), Aspergillus niger (5%), Aspergillus ochraceus (3%) and unidentified (23%) were also observed. Long grain rice, fragrant rice, peanuts, black beans and black pepper were positive for Aspergillus but contained undetectable aflatoxins. In contrast, Jasmine brown rice and crushed chilli contained 14.7 and 11.4 μg/kg of total aflatoxins, respectively, in the absence of Aspergillus so aflatoxigenic Aspergillus was present at some stage of food production. The results from this study emphasise the need for stricter control measures in reducing occurrence of aflatoxins in foods for export and domestic use.