Aflatoxin monitoring in Italian hazelnut products by LC-MS

Hazelnut samples of different origin were collected in stores in Northern Italy and analysed for aflatoxin (AF) contamination by a sensitive chromatographic method on the basis of a tandem mass spectrometer with electrospray ionisation. The effects of two extracting solvent mixtures (methanol/water and acetonitrile/water) and different extraction times were tested and compared in terms of recovery. Analysis showed that 35 out of 93 samples (37.6%) were contaminated by AFs. The incidence of positive samples was higher in Turkish (66.7%) than in Italian samples (35.9%). Mean AF contamination was higher (p = 0.045, Kruskal–Wallis test) in the Turkish samples (0.33 µg kg–1) compared to the Italian (0.14 µg kg–1) ones. In both cases, however, a low level of total AF contamination was found in the positive samples (0.64 µg kg–1), both being far below the maximum limit set in European legislation.

[1]  H. İlyasoğlu,et al.  Aflatoxin levels in raw and processed hazelnuts in Turkey , 2012, Food additives & contaminants. Part B, Surveillance.

[2]  L. Rastrelli,et al.  Survey of aflatoxins and ochratoxin a contamination in food products imported in Italy , 2011 .

[3]  Susie Y. Dai,et al.  Determination of aflatoxins in animal feeds by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry with isotope dilution. , 2011, Rapid communications in mass spectrometry : RCM.

[4]  Yongjiang Wu,et al.  Simultaneous determination of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, G2, M1 and M2 in peanuts and their derivative products by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. , 2010, Analytica chimica acta.

[5]  Rosma Ahmad,et al.  Aflatoxin occurrence in nuts and commercial nutty products in Malaysia , 2010 .

[6]  P. Alvito,et al.  Occurrence of Aflatoxins and Ochratoxin A in Baby Foods in Portugal , 2010 .

[7]  Bahruddin Saad,et al.  Determination of aflatoxins in animal feeds by HPLC with multifunctional column clean-up , 2010 .

[8]  L. Rastrelli,et al.  Application of pressurized liquid extraction in the analysis of aflatoxins B(1), B(2), G(1) and G(2) in nuts. , 2009, Journal of separation science.

[9]  K. Maaroufi,et al.  Simultaneous HPLC determination of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 in Tunisian sorghum and pistachios , 2009 .

[10]  Yves-Jacques Schneider,et al.  LC-MS/MS multi-analyte method for mycotoxin determination in food supplements , 2009, Food additives & contaminants. Part A, Chemistry, analysis, control, exposure & risk assessment.

[11]  Y. Sugita‐Konishi,et al.  Aflatoxin and ochratoxin A contamination of retail foods and intake of these mycotoxins in Japan , 2008, Food additives & contaminants. Part A, Chemistry, analysis, control, exposure & risk assessment.

[12]  S. Barringer,et al.  Aflatoxin levels in dried figs, nuts and paprika for export from Turkey , 2008 .

[13]  Sonia Marín,et al.  Distribution of fumonisins and aflatoxins in corn fractions during industrial cornflake processing. , 2008, International journal of food microbiology.

[14]  Chiara Cavaliere,et al.  Determination of aflatoxins in hazelnuts by various sample preparation methods and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. , 2008, Journal of chromatography. A.

[15]  T. Whitaker,et al.  Sampling hazelnuts for aflatoxin: effect of sample size and accept/reject limit on reducing the risk of misclassifying lots. , 2007, Journal of AOAC International.

[16]  Debopam Acharya,et al.  Simultaneous enzyme immunoassay for the screening of aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A in chili samples. , 2007, Analytica chimica acta.

[17]  A. Dobson,et al.  Strategies to Prevent Mycotoxin Contamination of Food and Animal Feed: A Review , 2006, Critical reviews in food science and nutrition.

[18]  H. Ayçiçek,et al.  Determination of aflatoxin levels in some dairy and food products which consumed in Ankara, Turkey , 2005 .

[19]  J. M. Soriano,et al.  Limited survey for the presence of aflatoxins in foods from local markets and supermarkets in Valencia, Spain , 2004, Food additives and contaminants.

[20]  E Anklam,et al.  Validation of analytical methods for determining mycotoxins in foodstuffs , 2002 .

[21]  Stephen L. R. Ellison,et al.  Harmonized guidelines for single-laboratory validation of methods of analysis (IUPAC Technical Report) , 2002, Chemistry International.

[22]  D. Reddy,et al.  Aflatoxins B1 in different grades of chillies (Capsicum annum L.) in India as determined by indirect competitive-ELISA , 2001, Food additives and contaminants.

[23]  J Stroka,et al.  Immunoaffinity column clean-up prior to thin-layer chromatography for the determination of aflatoxins in various food matrices. , 2000, Journal of chromatography. A.

[24]  T. Hamasaki,et al.  Enzymatic Formation of G-Group Aflatoxins and Biosynthetic Relationship between G- and B-Group Aflatoxins , 1999, Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

[25]  M. Petz,et al.  Investigation of various extractants for the analysis of aflatoxin B1 in different food and feed matrices. , 1999, Food additives and contaminants.

[26]  M. Trucksess,et al.  Rapid quantitation and confirmation of aflatoxins in corn and peanut butter, using a disposable silica gel column, thin layer chromatography, and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. , 1984, Journal - Association of Official Analytical Chemists.

[27]  G. Sahin,et al.  Aflatoxin levels in wheat samples consumed in some regions of Turkey , 2007 .

[28]  L. Unnevehr.  Food safety in food security and food trade , 2003 .

[29]  V. BhatRamesh,et al.  Mycotoxin food safety risk in developing countries , 2003 .