Abstract
Zearalenone (ZEN), an estrogenic mycotoxin produced by several species of Fusarium fungi, is a common contaminant of cereal-based food worldwide. Due to frequent occurrences associated with high levels of ZEN, maize oil is a particular source of exposure. Although a European maximum level for ZEN in maize oil exists according to Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1126/2007 along with a newly developed international standard method for analysis, certified reference materials (CRM) are still not available. To overcome this lack, the first CRM for the determination of ZEN in contaminated maize germ oil (ERM®-BC715) was developed in the frame of a European Reference Materials (ERM®) project according to the requirements of ISO Guide 35. The whole process of CRM development including preparation, homogeneity and stability studies, and value assignment is presented. The assignment of the certified mass fraction was based upon an in-house study using high-performance liquid chromatography isotope dilution tandem mass spectrometry. Simultaneously, to support the in-house certification study, an interlaboratory comparison study was conducted with 13 expert laboratories using different analytical methods. The certified mass fraction and expanded uncertainty (k = 2) of ERM®-BC715 (362 ± 22) μg kg−1 ZEN are traceable to the SI. This reference material is intended for analytical quality control and contributes to the improvement of consumer protection and food safety.Graphical abstract
Highlights
Quality, safety and authenticity are key factors for placing confidence in food
The certification campaign of ERM®-BC715 implied homogeneity evaluation, stability testing, in-house characterization for assignment of the certified value and interlaboratory comparison study (ILC), and calculation of the total uncertainty budget enabling a statement of traceability
Because the test statistic was slightly higher than the critical value, the candidate material was considered to be slightly inhomogeneous, but to an extent that can be covered by the corresponding uncertainty
Summary
Chemical food contaminants, which originate from different sources, lead to acute poisoning or have a long-term negative impact on the health of consumers. One of the most serious impacts to food safety issues arises from contaminated cereal crops, e.g. by heavy metals, pesticides and mycotoxins. The latter belong to the most abundant food contaminants worldwide. Estimates of food crops affected by mycotoxins worldwide vary widely, ranging from about 25% for levels above regulatory limits up to 60–80% for contamination levels above detection limits [1]. Mycotoxins lead in terms of annual notifications of the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) and are responsible for most of the European border rejections [2, 3]. In 2006, maximum levels were set for several mycotoxins in different food commodities [4]
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