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A multiplex lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) for the determination of the mycotoxins deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, and T2/HT2-toxin in barley was developed with luminescent quantum dots (QDs) as label. The synthesized QDs were hydrophilized by two strategies, that is, coating with an amphiphilic polymer or silica. The water-soluble QDs were compared with regard to their bioconjugation with monoclonal antibody (mAb) and were tested on a LFIA. Silica-coated QDs that contained epoxy groups were most promising. Therefore, green, orange, and red epoxy-functionalized silica-coated QDs were conjugated with anti-ZEN, anti-DON, and anti-T2 mAb, respectively. The LFIA was developed in accordance with the European Commission legal limits with cutoff limits of 1000, 80, and 80 μg/kg for deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, and T2/HT2-toxin, respectively. The LFIA gave a fast result (15 min) with a low false-negative rate (<5%), and the results were easy to interpret without any sophisticated equipment.

Mycotoxin binders are feed additives that aim to adsorb mycotoxins in the gastrointestinal tract of animals, making them unavailable for systemic absorption. The antimicrobial drug doxycycline (DOX) is often used in pigs and is administered through feed or drinking water; hence, DOX can come in contact with mycotoxin binders in the gastrointestinal tract. This paper describes the effect of four mycotoxin binders on the absorption of orally administered DOX in pigs. Two experiments were conducted: The first used a setup with bolus administration to fasted pigs at two different dosages of mycotoxin binder. In the second experiment, DOX and the binders were mixed in the feed at dosages recommended by the manufacturers (= field conditions). Interactions are possible between some of the mycotoxin binders dosed at 10 g/kg feed but not at 2 g/kg feed. When applying field conditions, no influences were seen on the plasma concentrations of DOX.

A total of 420 samples were collected from agrarian households. Whereas 51% (215/420) of the samples were contaminated with one or more toxins, the contamination rates for maize, peanut, and cassava products were 74, 62, and 24%, respectively. The fumonisins (20-5412 μg/kg), aflatoxin B1 (6-645 μg/kg), roquefortine C (1-181 μg/kg), and deoxynivalenol (27-3842 μg/kg) were the most prevalent contaminants in maize. For peanut samples, aflatoxin B1 (6-125 μg/kg) and ochratoxin A (0.3-12 μg/kg) were the main contaminants, whereas aflatoxin B1 (6-194 μg/kg) and penicillic acid (25-184 μg/kg) were detected in the cassava products. Exposures calculated through maize intake for fumonisin B1 and aflatoxin B1 were several-fold higher (2-5 for fumonisin B1 and 10(4)-10(5) for aflatoxin B1) than the health-based guidance values of 2 μg/kg bw/day and 0.15 ng/kg bw/day, respectively. The study design constitutes a good model that can be implemented in other sub-Saharan African countries.

This study was designed to develop a sensitive liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for the simultaneous detection and quantification of 25 mycotoxins in cassava flour, peanut cake and maize samples with particular focus on the optimization of the sample preparation protocol and method validation. All 25 mycotoxins were extracted in a single step with a mixture of methanol/ethyl acetate/water (70:20:10, v/v/v). The method limits of quantification (LOQ) varied from 0.3 μg/kg to 106 μg/kg. Good precision and linearity were observed for most of the mycotoxins. The method was applied for the analysis of naturally contaminated peanut cake, cassava flour and maize samples from the Republic of Benin. All samples analyzed (fifteen peanut cakes, four maize flour and four cassava flour samples) tested positive for one or more mycotoxins. Aflatoxins (total aflatoxins; 10-346 μg/kg) and ochratoxin A (

In recent years the consumption of tea and herbal infusions has increased. These hot drinks are consumed as daily drinks as well as for medicinal purposes. All tea varieties (white, yellow, green, oolong, black and puerh) originate from the leaves of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis. All extracts made of plant or herbal materials which do not contain Camellia sinensis are referred as herbal infusions or tisanes. During processing and manufacturing fungal contamination of the plant materials is possible, enabling contamination of these products with mycotoxins. In this study a multimycotoxin UPLC-MS/MS method was developed and validated for the analysis of the raw tea and herbal infusion materials as well as for their drinkable products. The samples were analyzed by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS), with a mobile phase consisting of variable mixtures of water and methanol with 0.3% formic acid. The limits of detection for the different mycotoxins varied between 2.1 μg/kg and 121 μg/kg for raw materials and between 0.4 μg/L and 46 μg/L for drinkable products. Afterward 91 different tea and herbal infusion samples were analyzed. Only in one sample, Ceylon melange, 76 μg/kg fumonisin B(1) was detected. No mycotoxins were detected in the drinkable products.

Crops used for animal feed can be easily contaminated by fungi during growth, harvest, or storage, resulting in the occurrence of mycotoxins. Because animal feed plays an important role in the food safety chain, the European Commission has set maximum levels for aflatoxin B1 and recommended maximum levels for deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, ochratoxin A, and the sum of fumonisin B1 and B2. A multimycotoxin LC-MS/MS method was developed, validated according to Commission Decision 2002/657/EC and EN ISO 17025 accredited for the simultaneous detection of 23 mycotoxins (aflatoxin-B1, aflatoxin-B2, aflatoxin-G1, aflatoxin-G2, ochratoxin A, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, fumonisin B1, fumonisin B2, fumonisin B3, T2-toxin, HT2-toxin, nivalenol, 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol, 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol, diacetoxyscirpenol, fusarenon-X, neosolaniol, altenuene, alternariol, alternariol methyl ether, roquefortine-C, and sterigmatocystin) in feed. The decision limits of the multimycotoxin method varied from 0.7 to 60.6 microg/kg. The apparent recovery and the results of the precision study fulfilled the performance criteria as set in Commission Decision 2002/657/EC. The analysis of three different feed matrices (sow feed, wheat, and maize) provided a good basis for the evaluation of the toxin exposure in animal production. In total, 67 samples out of 82 (82%) were contaminated; type B-trichothecenes and fumonisins occurred most often. The majority of the infected feed samples (75%) were contaminated with more than one type of mycotoxin.

A total of 205 cornflake samples collected in Belgian retail stores during 2003-2004 were surveyed for the natural occurrence of fumonisin B1 (FB1), B2 (FB2), and B3 (FB3). These cornflake samples, originating from conventional as well as from organic production, were analyzed using an intralaboratory-validated LC-MS/MS method. Additionally, 90 cornflake samples were subjected to rapid screening using a flow-through enzyme immunoassay method to demonstrate the practicability of a screening test coupled to a validated confirmatory LC-MS/MS method for the management of food safety risks. FB(1) concentrations ranged from not detected (nd) [LOD (FB1) = 20 microg/kg] to 464 microg/kg with mean and median concentrations of respectively 104 +/- 113 and 54 microg/kg. For FB2 and FB3, the concentration ranges varied respectively from nd [LOD (FB2) = 7.5 microg/kg] to 43 microg/kg and from nd [LOD (FB3) = 12.5 microg/kg] to 90 microg/kg. Mean concentrations for FB2 and FB3 were respectively 12 +/- 8 and 21 +/- 15 microg/kg, while the median concentration was 11 microg/kg for FB2 and 19 microg/kg for FB3. From the statistical tests (chi2 and ANOVA model III), it could be concluded that the agricultural practice did not have any significant effect on the fumonisin concentrations but that the variation between different batches was significant (p < 0.0001).