Occurrence of Mycotoxins in Feed as Analyzed by a Multi-Mycotoxin LC-MS/MS Method

• Published in: Journal of agricultural and food chemistry Vol. 58; no. 1; pp. 66 - 71
• Main Authors: Monbaliu, Sofie, Van Poucke, Christof, Detavernier, Christ’l, Dumoulin, Frédéric, Van De Velde, Mario, Schoeters, Elke, Van Dyck, Stefaan, Averkieva, Olga, Van Peteghem, Carlos, De Saeger, Sarah
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 13.01.2010
• Subjects: aflatoxin B1; Analytical Methods; Animal Feed - analysis; Biological and medical sciences; Chromatography, Liquid - methods; Feed and pet food industries; feed composition; feed contamination; Food industries; food safety; Food toxicology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; human food chain; liquid chromatography; mass spectrometry; maximum residue limits; mycotoxins; Mycotoxins - chemistry; Tandem Mass Spectrometry - methods; toxicity testing; LC-MS/MS; feed analysis; validation; multimycotoxin; Validation; Toxin; Surveillance; Mycotoxin; Liquid chromatography; Method; LC-MSMS; Feed
• ISSN: 0021-8561; 1520-5118
• DOI: 10.1021/jf903859z

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 μg/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.