Detection Methods for Mycotoxins in Cereal Grains and Cereal Products

Analytical methods for mycotoxins in cereals and cereal-based products require three major steps, including extraction, clean-up (to eliminate interferences from the extract and concentrate the analyte), and detection/determination of the toxin (by using suitable analytical instruments/technologies). Clean-up is essential for the analysis of mycotoxins at trace levels, and involves the use of solid phase extraction and multifunctional (e.g. MycoSep®) or immunoaffinity columns. Different chromatographic methods are commonly used for quantitative determination of mycotoxins, including gas-chromatography (GC) coupled with electron capture, flame ionization or mass spectrometry (MS) detectors (mainly for type-A trichothecenes), and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with ultraviolet, diode array, fluorescence or MS detectors. The choice of method depends on the matrix and the mycotoxin to be analyzed. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) is spreading rapidly as a promising technique for simultaneous screening, identification and quantitative determination of a large number of mycotoxins. In addition, commercial immunometric assays, such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), are frequently used for screening purposes as well. Recently, a variety of emerging methods have been proposed for the analysis of mycotoxins in cereals based on novel technologies, including immunochromatography (i.e. lateral flow devices), fluorescence polarization immunoassays (FPIA), infrared spectroscopy (FT-NIR), molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and optical biosensors.