Su Yaoyao, Huang Jun, Chen Xiaoman, Yang Gang, Chen Kewei, Du Muying, Zalán Zsolt, Hegyi Ferenc, Awad Sameh, Kan Jianquan
College of Food Science, Southwest University, 2 Tiansheng Road, Beibei, Chongqing 400715, PR China; Chinese-Hungarian Cooperative Research Centre for Food Science, Chongqing 400715, PR China; Chongqing Key Laboratory of Speciality Food Co-Built by Sichuan and Chongqing, Chongqing 400715, PR China.
College of Food Science, Southwest University, 2 Tiansheng Road, Beibei, Chongqing 400715, PR China; Chinese-Hungarian Cooperative Research Centre for Food Science, Chongqing 400715, PR China; Chongqing Key Laboratory of Speciality Food Co-Built by Sichuan and Chongqing, Chongqing 400715, PR China; Laboratory of Quality & Safety Risk Assessment for Agro-products on Storage and Preservation (Chongqing), Ministry of Agriculture, Chongqing 400715, PR China.
J Food Prot. 2025 Aug 22;88(9):100582. doi: 10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100582. Epub 2025 Jul 16.
The contamination of spices with aflatoxin (AF) raises concerns regarding its health risks. In this study, 51 samples of dried red chili peppers (including 10 varieties collected from three regions) were used to investigate the AF contamination of dried red chili peppers sold in China, and the toxigenic characteristics of Aspergillus flavus strains isolated from chili peppers. AFs were identified using immunoaffinity column purification, derivatization, and high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. The AF content in various types of dried red chili peppers sold in the Chinese market was generally low (≤7.19 µg/kg), below the limit of the relevant standard (10 µg/kg). The frequency of suspected A. flavus strains isolated from chili peppers was high (24/51), with a high toxigenic strain ratio of 29.17%. Further investigation revealed that 25-30 °C was the optimal temperature for toxin production by these toxigenic strains. This indicated that dried chilled peppers have a significant risk of AF contamination. Therefore, the findings of this study suggest that long-term storage of dried chili peppers should be conducted at temperatures below 25 °C or above 37 °C to mitigate the problem of AF contamination exceeding the levels allowed by the standards, providing new insights for the prevention and control of AF contamination of dried red chili peppers.
黄曲霉毒素（AF）对香料的污染引发了人们对其健康风险的担忧。在本研究中，使用了51份干辣椒样品（包括从三个地区收集的10个品种）来调查在中国销售的干辣椒的AF污染情况，以及从辣椒中分离出的黄曲霉菌株的产毒特性。采用免疫亲和柱净化、衍生化和高效液相色谱荧光检测法鉴定AFs。中国市场上销售的各类干辣椒中的AF含量普遍较低（≤7.19 µg/kg），低于相关标准限值（10 µg/kg）。从辣椒中分离出疑似黄曲霉菌株的频率较高（24/51），产毒菌株比例高达29.17%。进一步研究表明，25-30°C是这些产毒菌株产生毒素的最佳温度。这表明干辣椒存在AF污染的重大风险。因此，本研究结果表明，干辣椒的长期储存应在25°C以下或37°C以上进行，以减轻AF污染超过标准允许水平的问题，为干辣椒AF污染的预防和控制提供了新的见解。
