Rapid Quantitation of 14 Mycotoxins by Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectroscopy

New Organic Monitoring Techniques
Oral Presentation

Prepared by B. Nakhjavan
CA Department of Food and Agriculture, 3292 Meadowview Road, Sacramento, CA, 95832, United States


Contact Information: bahar.nakhjavan@cdfa.ca.gov; 530-953-9590


ABSTRACT

A rapid and simple analytical method was developed for the simultaneous quantification of aflatoxins (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2), ochratoxin A (OTA), zearalenone (ZON), deoxynivalenol (DON), nivalenol (NIV), diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS), fumonisins (FB1, FB2 & FB3), T-2 toxin (T-2), and HT-2 toxin (HT-2) in corn. Sample preparation was based on the extraction with acetonitrile, QuEChERS and cleanup with EMR lipid removal. Reconstitution process in methanol/water was used to improve the MS responses and then the extracts were analyzed by LC-MS/MS. Mixed matrix-matched calibration standards were prepared by using the same matrix blank. The recovery ratios for all mycotoxins are between 69-98% except NIV with 55% at different fortification levels and method detection limits are lower than the established EC and FDA action levels. The optimized method was then applied to a wider commodity range.
Since there is no robust, reliable and official technique for determination of all these 14 mycotoxins in different agricultural products, a sensitive and versatile method in daily practice is highly desired. The reliability of this mycotoxin analysis was approved by participating in several AAFCO proficiency tests and a comparison study project. In this study, a wide variety of sample preparation, extraction solvents, mobile phases, and cleanup techniques were applied. This present manuscript introduces a simplified method based on a QuEChERS approach with significant improvement on matrix effects and wide physicochemical properties of mycotoxins as limitations and challenges.