A survey of the occurrence of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1and G2in Soviet domestic and imported cereals and nuts (totalling 4532 samples) collected in 1985–87, showed that 26.9% of imported peanuts, 2.2% of corn and 28.3% of cotton seeds were contaminated by aflatoxins at levels exceeding the maximum tolerated level established in the USSR (5μg/kg for aflatoxin B1in foodstuffs of all types excluding baby foods); maximum concentrations were 3650, 600 and 153μg/kg, respectively. A highly sensitive normal‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatographic method was developed. The detection limit was 0.1μg/kg and the coefficients of variation were 11% and 8.5% at contamination levels 10 and 100μg/kg of aflatoxin B1, respectively.