Mycotoxin Analysis: New Proposals for Sample Treatment

Abstract

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by different fungi, with different chemical structures. Mycotoxins contaminate food, feed, or raw materials used in their production and cause diseases and disorders in humans and livestock. Because of their great variety of toxic effects and their extreme heat resistance, the presence of mycotoxins in food and feed is considered a high risk to human and animal health. In order to ensure food quality and health consumers, European legislation has set maximum contents of some mycotoxins in different matrices. However, there are still some food commodities susceptible to fungal contamination, which were not contemplated in this legislation. In this context, we have developed new analytical techniques for the multiclass determination of mycotoxins in a great variety of food commodities (some of them scarcely studied), such as cereals, pseudocereals, cereal syrups, nuts, edible seeds, and botanicals. Considering the latest technical developments, ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry has been chosen as an efficient, fast, and selective powerful analytical technique. In addition, alternative sample treatments based on emerging methodologies, such as dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction and QuEChERS, have been developed, which allow an increased efficiency and sample throughput, as well as reducing contaminant waste.

Subcritical Water Extraction and Its Prospects for Aflatoxins Extraction in Biological Materials

“…This positions analysis at the epicenter of AFs management and risk control, which is a global priority [11,68]. Bearing in mind that decisions relating to regulatory issues or commercial arbitration need to be based on well-defined methods of analysis [66], it is thus vital to ensure that methods for AF analysis are sensitive, efficient and validated against standard guidelines [69,70]. In AF analysis, the role played by extraction and sample preparation, in general, cannot be overemphasized.…”

A Focus on Aflatoxin in Feedstuffs: New Developments in Analysis and Detection, Feed Composition Affecting Toxin Contamination, and Interdisciplinary Approaches to Mitigate It

“…The authors compared three extraction mixtures, different SPE cartridges, including Oasis HLB ® , an amino cartridge, Oasis MAX ® , and MycoSep ® 226 multifunctional cartridge, and sorbents, including C 18 , chitin, carbon nanotubes, and florisil. The reader is referred to the review by Arroyo-Manzanares and coworkers who cite new techniques in sample preparation for mycotoxins [73].…”

Simple and efficient methodology to determine mycotoxins in cereal syrups

“…The chromatographic method used for the determination of the selected mycotoxins was similar to the one previously developed and applied in our laboratory (Arroyo-Manzanares, García-Campaña, & Gámiz-Gracia, 2013). UHPLC separations were performed in a C18 column (Zorbax Eclipse Plus RRHD 50 Â 2.1 mm, 1.8 lm) using a mobile phase consisting of 0.3% aqueous formic acid solution with 5 mM ammonium formate (solvent A), and MeOH with 0.3% formic acid and 5 mM ammonium formate (solvent B) at a flow rate of 0.4 ml min À1 .…”