Contamination level of Aflatoxins in Traditional Herbal Medicinal products (Jamu and Makjun) marketed in Malaysia.

Safety assessment for traditional herbal medicinal products such as “jamu” and “makjun” in Malaysia include the laboratory tests for heavy metals, microbiology and scheduled poisons. Test for aflatoxins is not included. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is genotoxic and carcinogenic. Its possible contamination in these products should be ruled out. In this study, 12 samples of “jamu” and “makjun”, analyzed using IAC clean-up and HPLC were found to have a mean levels of positive samples (incidence) as 0.97 (17%), 0.24 (17%), 0.92 (8%), 0.30 (8%) and 1.82 (17%) µg/kg, and the range was 0.94 - 0.99, 0.06 - 0.42, 0.92, 0.30 and 1.00 - 2.63 µg/kg, for AFB1, AFB2, AFG1,AFG2 and total AF, respectively. Low contamination level might be attributed to the antifungal effects of some medicinal herbs.