Developments in mycotoxin analysis: an update for 2019-2020

Abstract

This review summarises developments on the analysis of various matrices for mycotoxins published in the period from mid-2019 to mid-2020. Notable developments in all aspects of mycotoxin analysis, from sampling and quality assurance/quality control of analytical results, to the various detection and quantitation technologies ranging from single mycotoxin biosensors to comprehensive instrumental methods are presented and discussed. Aside from sampling and quality control, discussion of this past year’s developments is organised by detection and quantitation technology and covers chromatography with targeted or non-targeted high resolution mass spectrometry, tandem mass spectrometry, detection other than mass spectrometry, biosensors, as well as assays that use alternatives to antibodies. This critical review aims to briefly present the most important recent developments and trends in mycotoxin determination as well as to address limitations of the presented methodologies.

Development and Validation of an LC-MS/MS Based Method for the Determination of Deoxynivalenol and Its Modified Forms in Maize

“…From an analytical-chemical point of view, it is relevant to observe differences in ionization of the compounds (see Figure 3 ), so a sum value with either or both toxins, as standards will lead to inaccurate quantification when there is no chromatographical separation. Multi-mycotoxin methods based on LC-MS/MS are widely used nowadays [ 11 , 12 ], but remain a compromise in various aspects in order to “squeeze in” a multitude of analytes in a single method. In case accurate quantification of 3ADON and 15ADON is warranted, methods not resolving the compounds cannot be recommended.…”

“…As such, the European Food Safety Authority proposed a group tolerable daily intake value of 1 µg/kg bodyweight for the sum of the four compounds [10]. The most popular technique to determine mycotoxins in food nowadays [11,12] is liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Typically reversed phase chromatography on a C-18 column is used to separate mycotoxins of different polarities, before they are charged during electrospray ionization and subsequently analyzed with MS [13].…”

Molecularly Imprinted Polymers Combined with Electrochemical Sensors for Food Contaminants Analysis

“…Mycotoxins or fungal contaminants are also major biological hazards, while few research papers on MIP-based electrochemical sensors for mycotoxins detection have been reported. The development of an accurate analytical method for the detection of mycotoxins is highly needed to satisfy food safety requirements [ 123 , 124 ]. Recently, Huang et al [ 115 ] applied thionine as both functional monomer and signal indicator to form an electrochemical sensor for the detection of patulin that is produced by Aspergillus , Penicillium , and Byssochlamys species.…”

GPTransformer: A Transformer-Based Deep Learning Method for Predicting Fusarium Related Traits in Barley

“…However, this correlation is often moderate at best (Buerstmayr et al, 2004 ; Choo et al, 2004 ; He et al, 2015 ; Huang et al, 2018 ; Tucker et al, 2019 ). Mycotoxin quantification is highly technical, where sampling protocols, quality controls and choice of analytical technologies are all implicated as important factors (Tittlemier et al, 2021 ). Analytical chemistries are expensive and labor requirements for harvest and processing grains are substantial.…”