Determination of aflatoxins in edible vegetable oils from Egyptian market: Method development, validation, and health risk assessment

Aflatoxins (AFs) are among the most toxic contaminants that are present in nuts, grains, seeds, and spices. This study developed a selective and reliable method to determine AFs in edible vegetable oils. In addition, the health risk assessments of AFs owing to the consumption of contaminated edible vegetable oils were estimated using the margin of exposure (MOE) approach in Egyptians. Size exclusion chromatography was performed for the selective extraction of AFs from oils. AFs were quantified via precolumn derivatization, followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with a fluorescence detector (HPLC-FLD). The method was tested for validation parameters and was found to fit its selective and intended use. The limit of quantification (LOQ) values for AFG1, AFB1, AFG2, and AFB2 were 0.3, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.2 μg kg⁻¹, respectively; the corresponding values for the limit of detection (LOD) were 0.08, 0.08, 0.11, and 0.07 μg kg⁻¹, respectively. The test method was applied to determine AFs in 90 randomly collected edible vegetable oil samples from 4 Egyptian governorates. The results showed that 5.6 % of the samples were contaminated with AFB1 (average concentration, 3.56 ± 2.50 μg kg⁻¹). The estimated daily intakes of AFB1 from sunflower, corn, and mixed oils were 0.00047, 0.00571, and 0.30384 ng kg⁻¹ body weight (bw) day⁻¹, respectively, and the corresponding MOE values were 361,702, 29,750, and 560 ng kg⁻¹ bw day⁻¹, respectively. The MOE results suggested that the situation represents a health concern regarding the consumption of mixed oils and that essential measures should be taken to protect public health. However, no harmful effects from the consumption of sunflower and corn oils were observed. This is the first study to investigate AFs in edible vegetable oils and assess their health risk in Egypt.