Simultaneous determination of deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, T‐2 and HT‐2 toxins in breakfast cereals and baby food by high‐performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

In this study, the simultaneous determination of deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenone (ZEA), T-2 and HT-2 toxins in foodstuff was investigated. A new kind of multi-mycotoxin immunoaffinity columns (IACs) available on the market (DZT MS-PREP(®)) was tested. A sensitive, selective and accurate method by high-performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry was developed, with electrospray ionization mass spectrometer operating in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode, with negative-positive-negative ion switching. The method was used for the analysis of samples marked in Italy, in the frame of official monitoring plans. The advantages of combining IACs and LC-MS/MS technique are as follows: efficient removal of matrix interferences, simple chromatographic outline, high selectivity, low detection limits (DLs) and separation of a wide range of molecules with different physico-chemical properties in a single run. The method was studied on two different matrices, breakfast cereal and baby food, at contamination levels close to Regulation limits (EC) 1126/2007. The recoveries obtained (60-100%) fulfil the performance criteria required by Regulation (EC) 401/2006. The DL is 60 µg/kg for DON and 10 µg/kg for ZEA, T-2 and HT-2. Linearity range of the calibration curves is suitable for adult and baby food.

Scientific Opinion on the risks for public health related to the presence of zearalenone in food

“…In general, it has to be differentiated between methods focusing on a single mycotoxin like zearalenone or a group of toxins, like the trichothecenes or the Fusarium toxins (Tanaka et al, 2006;Cramer et al, 2007). However the first LC-MS/MS multi-mycotoxin method using multi-mycotoxin immunoaffinity columns have been published recently (Romagnoli et al, 2010). However the first LC-MS/MS multi-mycotoxin method using multi-mycotoxin immunoaffinity columns have been published recently (Romagnoli et al, 2010).…”

Simultaneous determination of carbamate insecticides and mycotoxins in cereals by reversed phase liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry using a quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe extraction procedure

“…Therefore, a large number of multi-residue analytical methods have been established for the determination of carbamate insecticides and mycotoxins since the 1980s [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Especially in recent years, many liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) methods have been developed for simultaneous determination of multi-class mycotoxins in food [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

Optimization and validation of a method based in a QuEChERS procedure and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry for the determination of multi-mycotoxins in popcorn

“…TRS type A) instead of the simultaneous analysis of different types or classes of mycotoxins. Co-extraction of TRs type A and ZON in cereals and cereal products can be performed by liquideliquid extraction (LLE) using mixtures of acetonitrile/water (Berthiller et al, 2005;Spanjer et al, 2008;Tanaka et al, 2006;Tanaka et al, 2000) or methanol/water (Romagnoli, Ferrari, & Bergamini, 2010; followed sometimes by a cleanup step carried-out with Mycosep columns (Berthiller et al, 2005), Multisep columns Tanaka et al, 2006) or immunoaffinity columns (IAC) (Romagnoli et al, 2010;. Nevertheless the acceptable recoveries and good quantification limits obtained, these approaches are laborious, uses large quantities of organic solvents (more than 40 ml) and extensive and expensive cleanup.…”