Quantitative determination of trichothecenes in breadsticks by gas chromatography-triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

Breadsticks are pencil-sized sticks of dry bread widely consumed as a pre-meal appetiser. They are basically wheat-based snacks, which makes them a good matrix to evaluate mycotoxin contamination, since wheat is very susceptible to fungal attack. In this sense, the fast, selective and sensitive gas chromatography-triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (GC-QqQ-MS/MS) method proposed here allows simultaneous determination of deoxynivalenol (DON), 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol, fusarenon-X, diacetoxyscirpenol, nivalenol, neosolaniol, HT-2 and T-2 toxin in breadsticks after QuEChERS extraction and clean-up. The performance of the method was assessed with respect to European Commission Regulations by studying the selectivity and specificity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantitation (LOQ), linearity, matrix effect, accuracy, precision and trueness. Satisfactory results in terms of validation parameters were obtained for all selected mycotoxins (recovery range of 70–110%, RSD < 10%, LOQ <40 µg kg–1). The trueness of the method was supported by using certified reference material (DON 1062 ± 110 µg kg–1). The method was successfully used to evaluate the occurrence of the studied Fusarium toxins in 61 breadstick samples. A total of 64% of the samples showed mycotoxin contamination, DON being the most frequently detected toxin. Nonetheless, mean levels obtained were far below the maximum levels permitted by European Union legislation. An additional goal was to carry out a risk-characterisation approach to DON by comparing probable daily intake and provisional maximum tolerable daily intake (PMTDI).