Abstract:
Even though Turkey is the third leading producer of fresh pepper, currently it
only supplies 3-5% of processed red pepper spice in the international trade
market because of high aflatoxin contamination. This study was designed to
determine the presence and levels of aflatoxins in red pepper spice collected
from three major producer provinces in Southeast (K. Maras, G. Antep,
Hatay-Kilis) and one province in Central Turkey (Ankara). This pilot study
also included companies that are actively involved in international red pepper
spice trade. Nearly, half of the samples showed significant levels of
contamination above the European Standard of 5 ng/g for AFBI and 10 ng/g
for total aflatoxins. Over ninety percent of contaminated samples contained
AFBI with levels ranging from 5 to 85.55 ng/g. The overall mean level of
total aflatoxins was 22.18 ng/g with the highest level being 144.41 ng/g.
These results indicate that there is a necessity for establishing stricter and
continuous national surveillance schemes for improving safety and quality of
red pepper spice in Turkey.
