Cereal Chem 54:179 - 182.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
A New Method for Quantitation of Aflatoxin in Corn.

L. M. Seitz and H. E. Mohr. Copyright 1977 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

A new method for quantitation of aflatoxin in corn is described wich is faster, easier, about one-seventh as expensive, and requires less toxic and/or flammable solvents than AOAC Method 1 (CB method). The new method is an extension of a simple screening test previously described. Aflatoxin was removed from the corn by double extraction with methanol-water (75/25, v/v). Ammonium sulfate solution was added to a portion of the intial extract, and the resulting aqueous phase was partitioned once with hexane to remove oil and pigments and then twice with methylene chloride to extract aflatoxin. Aspiration was used to remove the hexane (top) layer from the separatory funnel without draining off the aqueous (bottom) layer. Transfer of final extract from one container to another was avoided. Standard thin-layer chromatography was used for final detection and quantitation. When seven lots of yellow corn "naturally" contaminated with aflatoxin B1 were analyzed by the new method and by the CB method, results were similar.