Preliminary Study on the Effects of Laboratory Storage Conditions for Aflatoxins Testing

H. Wan Syahidah, D. Suhaimi and S. Lily Suhaida

This study was conducted to observe the effects of different laboratory storage conditions for aflatoxins testing. Aflatoxins testing were carried out by screening method using ELISA technique. Three types of storage conditions or feeds in the laboratory for aflatoxins testing have been conducted. Three storage conditions of different types of feeds were chill al 4?C, light room temperature (mean = 28.9?C) with humidity mean 62% and dark room temperature (mean 26.8?C) with humidity mean 55% for a duration of 14 days. Twenty feeds sample that were sent to Veterinary Public Health Laboratory {VPHL) were randomly selected in this experiment. It involves fonnulated feeds, grains and by products feeds. In this experiment, the screenings of total aflatoxins were done at Oday and after 14 days of different storage conditions. In this study, 65% of selected samples screened were not contaminated on O day whereas 25% of samples were detected <20ppb and 10% of samples were detected >20ppb on Oday. After 14 days, the results showed that dark environment (room temperature) increase the levels of aflatoxins. The increasing of aflatoxins in dark environment {room temperature) were 33.3% compared in light environment (room temperature) 11. l % and chill (4?C) was 4.4%. In light environment (room temperature, mean= 28.9?C), 55.6% of contaminated samples showed decreased level of aflatoxin compared in chill (4?C) and dark environment (22.2% respectively). As a conclusion, aflatoxin produced more easily in the dark than in light condition. To ensure the aflatoxin levels do not continue to increase during storage in the laboratory, temperature and humidity of laboratory should be in minimum range for the growth of mycoioxins. It is due to ensure testing reports are reliable to customer. As a conclusion, the finding of this study was atlatoxin produced more easily in the dark than in light condition. Since aflatoxins growth may be affected by several factors, it is recommended that a more comprehensive study be conducted involving more samples with using confirmatory method, liquid chromatography.