*3.1. Chemicals and Materials*

Individual AF standards of AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, and AFG2 were purchased from Sigma Chemical Co. (St. Louis, MO, USA). HPLC-grade acetonitrile and methanol (Merck, Darmstadt, Germany) were used for the preparation of the mobile phase. Analytical grade chloroform (Fischer Scientific, Leicestershire, United Kingdom) was used for extraction of aflatoxins. Reverse osmosis (RO) water was used for the preparation of the mobile phase, culture medium, and 0.1% Tween solution. Membrane filters (0.45 µm with 47 mm diameter), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) syringe filters (0.45 µm with 17 mm diameter) and Polysorbate 80 (Tween-80) were purchased from Thermo Fisher Scientific (Rockwood, TN, USA). Both potato dextrose agar (PDA) and potato dextrose broth (PDB) were purchased from BD Difco Laboratories (Sparks, MD, USA).
