Simultaneous evaluation ochratoxin A, aflatoxins, and zearalenone contamination level in Iran’s frijoles during years 2019-2022 using HPLC-FLD

Abstract Considering the importance of frijoles in Iran as a favorite and widely consumed food, for the first time, research was conducted on the contamination of frijoles with mycotoxins. Mycotoxins were measured with a recovery of 95–102% by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and extracted and purified using a conventional commercial immunoaffinity column. In this research, 450 samples of frijoles, including 150 beans, 150 lentils, and 150 peas were examined. All the beans and peas were free of mycotoxins, and only 5 lentil samples contained mycotoxins. Two samples were contaminated with Aflatoxin B2 (AFB2) and (Aflatoxin G1) AFG1 toxins, one sample was contaminated with Ochratoxin A (OTA), one sample was contaminated with (Zearalenone) ZEA and another sample was contaminated with AFG1) was identified, the value was detected 14.2 ± 0.16 ng/g and < LOQ, which was lower than the detectable level in Iran and the European Union. The results in this research show the improvement of the sanitary conditions of cultivation, harvesting, and storage after the harvesting of frijoles in Iran.