Efficacy of the Visual, Minicolumn, and Thin Layer Chromatography Methods to Test Farmers Stock Peanuts for Aflatoxin1

Abstract

Abstract This study estimated the efficacy of the visual A. flavus (VAF), minicolumn (MCL), and thin layer chromatography (TLC) methods to detect farmers stock peanuts which contain aflatoxin. Aflatoxin tests on grade samples from each of 2300 lots of farmers stock peanuts was used to estimate the distribution of farmers stock lots according to their aflatoxin concentration (lot distribution). This lot distribution (with an average aflatoxin concentration of 59.5 parts per billion) was incorporated into each of the 3 computer models that simulate the testing of farmers stock peanuts for aflatoxin when the VAF, MCL, and TLC methods are used. The number of lots accepted and the average aflatoxin concentration (AA) in the accepted lots was predicted. Results indicate that when a given percentage of the lots are accepted, lots accepted by the VAF method have less aflatoxin than those lots accepted by either the MCL or TLC methods. When the present visual method was used to test the above lot distribution, 75.8% of the lots tested were accepted and the AA in the accepted and rejected lots were 4.1 and 232.8 parts per billion, respectively.