Occurrence of mycotoxins and associated mycoflora in peanut cake product (kulikuli) marketed in Benin

The detection of spoilage fungi and mycotoxins contamination in peanut cake product, popularly called "kulikuli" was investigated in this study. Forty five major markets were sampled and peanut cake products were analyzed for aflatoxins and ochratoxin A contaminations, and associated mycoflora. Total coliform count ranged between 1.6 x 10 super(1) and 14.0 x 10 super(2) CFU g super(-1), while the fungal count was between 1.0 to 8.1 x 10 super(2) CFU g super(-1). Bacteria isolated from peanut cake product were Eschericha coli, Klebsiella spp. and Clostridium spp. The fungal isolates include Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus parasiticus, Aspergillus spp., Fusarium spp., and Penicillium spp. being the dominant microflora in decreasing frequency of occurrence. High concentrations of aflatoxins were detected. They were between 25.54 to 455.22 mu g/kg for AFB sub(1), 33.94 to 491.20 mu g/kg for AFB sub(2), 0.41 to 100.33 mu g/kg for AFG sub(1) and 22.04 to 87.73 mu g/kg for AFG sub(2). Ochratoxin A concentrations ranged between 0.3 and 2 mu g/kg. The coexistence of aflatoxins and ochratoxin A (OTA) in peanut was also established. The results show that peanut cake product sold in market was highly contaminated and therefore unacceptable for human nutrition.