Simultaneous Determination of Multiple Mycotoxins in Swine, Poultry and Dairy Feeds Using Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

• Main Authors: Kraiwut Nualkaw, Saranya Poapolathep, Zhaowei Zhang, Qi Zhang, Mario Giorgi, Peiwu Li, Antonio Francesco Logrieco, Amnart Poapolathep
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-04-01
• Series: Toxins
• Subjects: multi-mycotoxins; QuEChERS; animal feeds; UHPLC-MS/MS
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/12/4/253

A reliable, sensitive and accurate multiple mycotoxin method was developed for the simultaneous determination of 17 mycotoxins in swine, poultry and dairy feeds using stable isotope dilution (¹³C-ISTD) and (ultra)-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). A simple QuEChERS-based method (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe) was developed consisting of soaking with a solution of 1% formic acid followed by extraction with acetonitrile, clean-up with C18 sorbent and finally adding ¹³C-ISTD before the UHPLC-MS/MS analysis. The chromatographic condition was optimized for separation and detection of the 17 mycotoxins using gradient elution. The method’s performance complied with the SANTE/11813/2017 standard and had mean recovery accuracies in the range 70%–120% and precision testing of % relative standard deviation (RSD) £ 20%. The limit of detection and limit of quantification values ranged from 0.25 to 40.0 ng/g and 0.5 to 100.0 ng/g, respectively. Finally, the method was applied to analyze feed samples, with the results showing that fumonisins, zearalenone, aflatoxin B1 and deoxynivalenol were the most prevalent mycotoxins contaminating the feed samples.