Determination of ochratoxin A in brown rice through a rapid, straightforward strategy based on FaTEx coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography–fluorescence detection

Abstract

Ochratoxin A is a mycotoxin commonly found in cereals. In this study, a rapid and straightforward method was developed for measuring trace concentrations of ochratoxin A in brown rice; the method combines the fast toxin extraction (FaTEx) technique with high-performance liquid chromatography–fluorescence detection. The proposed method was validated and exhibited high performance and satisfactory accuracy (91.6%–99.2%), precision (relative standard deviation < 3%), linearity (R2 > 0.9999), sensitivity (limit of quantification = 1.0 ng/g), and matrix effects (magnitude = −2%). The proposed method is simple, accurate, inexpensive, reliable, and environmental friendly and requires minimal sample preparation. It was successfully used to analyze brown rice samples from markets and rice shops in Taiwan. To our knowledge, no study has reported the use of FaTEx for the extraction of ochratoxin A from cereals. The proposed method overcomes the shortcomings of traditional column cleanup and satisfies current food safety and analysis demands.