Review of Immunological Methods for the Quantification of Aflatoxins in Peanut and Other Foods

Aflatoxin contamination is widespread in staple crops like peanut, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, chillies, pistachio, cassava etc., and compromises the safety of food and feed supplies. It is important to be able to detect and quantify aflatoxins in commodities to protect human and animal health. Many different methods, including antibody-based ones, are available for quantitative estimation of aflatoxins. However, most of these methods such as HPLC, HPTLC, and TLC are expensive and/or difficult to use in developed countries. Using the state-of-the-art facilities at ICRISAT, we developed polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies for the detection of total aflatoxins, aflatoxin B1 and M1 (secreted in milk). These were used to develop a simple and inexpensive competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (cELISA) that has lower detection limits (1.0 µg/kg) and cost (about $1 per sample) less than other available methods. More than 100 samples can be analyzed in a day. These tests have provided a unique opportunity for ICRISAT and its partners to conduct field studies to select resistant genotypes, identify high risk populations and determine the dietary sources to stimulate appropriate interventions to enhance the food and human health safety, trade and thereby farmers' income