Prevalence of aflatoxins contamination in palm kernel cake in Malaysia

Palm kernel cake (PKC) is a by-product of palm oil that is mainly used as animal feed. The tropical climate of Malaysia, along with high humidity, favours the growth of aflatoxin-producing fungi. PKC contamination with aflatoxins poses a serious food safety risk. The PKC samples were collected from selected palm kernel crushers in Malaysia between January 2015 and February 2018. A total of twenty-four samples (n = 24) were collected from Southern Peninsula Malaysia (10), Central Peninsula Malaysia (5), Northern Peninsula Malaysia (4) and East Malaysia (5). These samples were analysed for aflatoxins by solvent extraction and immunoaffinity clean-up, followed by determination using a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Aflatoxins level in all samples were less than 5 mu g kg(-1), meeting the maximum allowed limit of 20 mu g kg(-1) set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Union (EU). The developed method of detecting aflatoxins as mentioned above was specific, easy, reliable and suitable for routine analysis of aflatoxins in animal feed.

Automated summary

This study focused on the analysis of aflatoxins in palm kernel cake in Malaysia, showing that the levels of aflatoxins in all samples were below the set limit, and the developed method was proven to be specific, easy, and reliable for routine analysis.