Simultaneous Detection of Seven Alternaria Toxins in Mixed Fruit Puree by Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry Coupled with a Modified QuEChERS

• Published in: Toxins Vol. 13; no. 11; p. 808
• Main Authors: Xing, Jiali, Zhang, Zigeng, Zheng, Ruihang, Xu, Xiaorong, Mao, Lingyan, Lu, Jingping, Shen, Jian, Dai, Xianjun, Yang, Zhenfeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 16.11.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Acetonitrile; Alternaria; Alternaria - metabolism; Alternaria toxins; Chromatography; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid - methods; Efficiency; Elution; Food; Food contamination; Formic acid; Fruit - microbiology; Fruits; High performance liquid chromatography; Ionization; Limit of Detection; Liquid chromatography; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; mixed fruit puree; modified QuEChERS method; Mycotoxins - analysis; Object recognition; Optimization; Purees; Reproducibility of Results; Scientific imaging; Sensors; Sodium chloride; Solvents; Spectroscopy; Tandem Mass Spectrometry - methods; Tenuazonic acid; Toxins; ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry; Vegetables; ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry; Alternaria toxins; modified QuEChERS method; mixed fruit puree
• ISSN: 2072-6651; 2072-6651
• DOI: 10.3390/toxins13110808

The presence of toxins ( Ts) in fruit purees may cause potential harm to the life and health of consumers. As time passes, Ts have become the key detection objects in this kind of food. Based on this, a novel and rapid method was established in this paper for the simultaneous detection of seven TS (tenuazonic acid, alternariol, alternariol monomethyl ether, altenuene, tentoxin, altenusin, and altertoxin I) in mixed fruit purees using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The sample was prepared using the modified QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) method to complete the extraction and clean-up steps in one procedure. In this QuEChERS method, sample was extracted with water and acetonitrile (1.5% formic acid), then salted out with NaCl, separated on an ACQUITY UPLC BEH C with gradient elution by using acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid aqueous as eluent, and detected by UPLC-MS/MS under positive (ESI ) and negative (ESI ) electrospray ionization and MRM models. Results showed that the seven Ts exhibited a good linearity in the concentration range of 0.5-200 ng/mL with > 0.9925, and the limits of detection (LODs) of the instrument were in the range of 0.18-0.53 μg/kg. The average recoveries ranged from 79.5% to 106.7%, with the relative standard deviations (RSDs) no more than 9.78% at spiked levels of 5, 10, and 20 μg/kg for seven Ts. The established method was applied to the determination and analysis of the seven Ts in 80 mixed fruit puree samples. The results showed that Ts were detected in 31 of the 80 samples, and the content of Ts ranged from 1.32 μg/kg to 54.89 μg/kg. Moreover, the content of TeA was the highest in the detected samples (23.32-54.89 μg/kg), while the detection rate of Ten (24/31 samples) was higher than the other Ts. Furthermore, the other five Ts had similar and lower levels of contamination. The method established in this paper is accurate, rapid, simple, sensitive, repeatable, and stable, and can be used for the practical determination of seven Ts in fruit puree or other similar samples. Moreover, this method could provide theory foundation for the establishment of limit standard of Ts and provide a reference for the development of similar detection standard methods in the future.