Extraction Methods’ Effects on Aflatoxin Concentration during Sunflower Oil Processing: First Report

Abstract

Sunflower oil is one of the most known edible vegetable oil in the world. Although there are few studies on the presence of aflatoxin in sunflower seeds there are no studies on aflatoxin transfer to sunflower oil. In this study, not only was it demonstrated that there could be a toxin transfer from aflatoxin-contaminated raw materials to the oil, but it was also investigated how the extraction methods used for oil extraction from oilseeds affect the amount of aflatoxin transferred to the oil. Sunflower seeds, which are aflatoxin free were spiked 5 and 10 µg/kg and oil extraction was performed. It was found the transfer of aflatoxin to the oil was statistically significant in terms of the methods and amounts of inoculation (p<0.05). The amount of total aflatoxin retained in the oil obtained from the sunflower seeds spiked with 5 µg/kg and 10 µg/kg of aflatoxins were respectively, 2.76 (55.2%) and 5.77 (57.7%) µg/kg in the cold press, 1.87 (37.4%) and 4.69 (46.9%) µg/kg in the press from roasted seeds, 0.91 (18.2%) and 1.96 (19.6%) µg/kg in the solvent (hexane) extraction. It was found that the best method is solvent (hexane) extraction for transfers the lowest aflatoxin to the oils.