Simultaneous Determination of 26 Mycotoxins in Sesame Butter Using Modified QuEChERS Coupled with UHPLC-ESI/Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry Authors

This application note describes a method for the quantitative determination of 26 mycotoxins in sesame butter based on the work published by Liu et al. [1]. The sample was initially extracted and cleaned up using a modified QuEChERS protocol developed in the lab, and the resultant solution was subjected to separation and detection using an Agilent 1290 Infinity LC System coupled to an Agilent 6460 Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer. With the matrix-matched external standard calibration, the developed method showed a very good linear dynamic range with correlation coefficients of 0.995 or above. It detected the 26 mycotoxins at limits of quantitation (LOQ) mostly lower than the available maximum residue levels (MRLs) currently regulated by China, EU, and other regulation organizations. Spiking tests demonstrated that the majority of recoveries were within 60–120 %, with RSDs below 15 % for each analyte. The method developed is very sensitive, selective, accurate, and has high throughput. It can be applied to the target screening of mycotoxins in real samples.