Aflatoxins are natural contaminants of cereals and other commodities throughout the world. Chronic dietary exposure even to low doses of aflatoxins is a known risk factor for liver cancer and effect protein metabolism and immunity. The study was carried out on a 1029 samples of brown rice, 1561 samples of white rice, 33 samples of broken rice, 13 samples of Sella rice, 52 samples of parboiled rice of export quality from Pakistan during the years 2006-2010 for determination of Aflatoxin B1, B2, G1 and G2 by Thin Layer Chromatography. 341 (33.13%) samples of white rice, 350 (22.42%) samples of brown rice, 13 (39.39%) samples of broken rice, 25 (24.27%) samples of Sella rice and 14 (26.92%) samples of parboiled rice were found contaminated with B1. B2 was detected in 33 (3.20%) samples of white rice, 23 (1.47%) samples of brown rice and 1(3.03%) samples of broken rice. While G1 is found in 9 (0.8%) samples of white rice, 57 (3.65%) samples of brown rice, 1 (1.5 %) samples of parboiled rice. Aflatoxin G2 was absent in all samples. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjsir.v49i3.22134 Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 49(3), 189-194, 2014

The present study was aimed to analyze the antioxidant activity of spinach (Spinacia oleracea) extract in oxidative stabilization of refined, bleached and de-odorized (RBD) corn oil (CO). Corn oil was supplemented with three different concentrations 600, 1200 and 1800 ppm of methanolic spinach extract and then stored at 25oC and 60oC. Different oxidation measuring parameters such as peroxide value (PV), free fatty acid (FFA) value, iodine value (IV), conjugated dienes (CD), conjugated trienes (CT) and para-anisidine value (PAV) were examined. The potency of spinach extract as natural antioxidant was found to be as effective as the synthetic antioxidants BHA and BHT used as standards and highest stabilization was observed in the order CO-1800>CO-1200>CO-BHT> CO-BHA>CO-600>CO-control. The results showed a significant effect of spinach extract in enhancing the oxidative stability of corn oil. Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res.54(4), 375-382, 2019

The antioxidant efficacy of the spinach extract was evaluated by addition in sunflower oil (SFO) as natural antioxidant. Three different concentrations of spinach extract, SFO-800, SFO-1600 and SFO-2400 ppm were supplemented to sunflower oil at 25 o C and 60 o C along with standard synthetic antioxidants butylated hydroxianisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). The stabilization of sunflower oil with spinach extract as natural antioxidant was monitored by evaluating oxidation in terms of peroxide value, free fatty acid value, iodine value, conjugated dienes, conjugated trienes and para-anisidine value. Spinach extract with maximum concentration showed significant effectiveness in oxidative stabilization of the sunflower oil.

This study was done to evaluate the impact of drying pattern on the accumulation of aflatoxin in paddy rice during storage. Two drying pattern includes, 1) single step drying to reduced the moisture content of paddy rice 11-12 % within 6 hours and stored for long time; and 2) two steps drying to reduce the moisture up to 18%, in its first step and stored for short term (2 weeks) and in the second step, dried again to reduce the moisture content up to 11-12% and stored for longer time, with twenty five different paddy rice samples having moisture content ranging from 24-22 % were evaluated for the accumulation of aflatoxins in paddy rice during storage. In addition, this study also evaluated the best drying method that can control the accumulation of aflatoxin during prolong storage. The study results revealed that one step drying is safer than that of two steps drying in accumulating aflatoxins in paddy rice during 210 days of storage. The maximum total aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1,G2) was recorded as 27 ppb in paddy rice sample in two steps drying process, on the other hand, non-detectable level or <10 ppb level of aflatoxins was recorded in all the 25 paddy rice s amples analyzed.Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res.53(4), 253-258, 2018