Investigation of aflatoxins contamination in herbal materia medica in a Taiwan pharmaceutical factory

During the years 2005e2016, a total of 1067 samples for 24 types of herbal materia medicawere investigated for the presence of aflatoxins (AFs) using immunoaffinity columncleanup and HPLC-coupled to a fluorescence detector after post-column derivatization. AFswere detected in 373 (35%) out of the total samples. Among them, Platycladi Semen (65% fortotal AFs and 79% for AFB1), Corydalis Rhizoma (53% for total AFs and 32% for AFB1), CorniFructus (3% for total AFs), Coicis Semen (3% for total AFs and AFB1), Nelumbinis Semen (6%for total AFs and 9% for AFB1), Arecae Semen (18% for AFB1), Polygalae Radix (5% for totalAFs and AFB1), and Cassiae Semen (25% for total AFs and 38% for AFB1) exceeded theofficial limits of 5 and 10 mg/kg, for AFB1 and total AFs (the sum of AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, andAFG2), respectively, set by the Taiwan government. We concluded that Platycladi Semen,Corydalis Rhizoma, and Cassiae Semen are the most commonly contaminated by AFs.