Abstract
Milk is the world’s most consumed beverage, not counting water. Even though investigations on milk aflatoxin (AF) M1 contamination are regularly conducted, there is limited information on the contamination of milk with its parent compound, AFB1. Hence, the aim of this study was to develop a quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS)-based method for the simultaneous analysis of AFB1 and AFM1 in milk, using ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS). The recoveries were in a range of 75–96% at 0.005, 0.01, and 0.05 µg/L spiking levels, with repeatability and reproducibility results expressed as relative standard deviations (RSDs) lower than 7% and 16%, respectively. The limits of detection (LODs) and quantification (LOQs) were 0.001 and 0.002 µg/L for AFM1 and AFB1, respectively. The LODs and LOQs that were obtained showed the suitability of the developed method for the determination of trace amounts of the selected mycotoxins in milk samples, and were up to ten times lower than those that had been reported in previous works using triple quadrupole mass analyzers. The matrix effect was evaluated and matrix-matched calibrations were used for quantification. The validated method was applied to 40 Italian milk samples. Neither AFB1 nor AFM1 were found above the LOD in any of the analyzed samples.
Highlights
Mycotoxins are secondary toxic metabolites that are produced by several species of fungi, mainly belonging to the Aspergillus, Penicillium, Alternaria, and Fusarium genera
The results showed that any analyzed sample was contaminated with AFM1 (LOD: 0.001 μg/L)
A large number of studies regarding the occurrence of AFM1 in milk are available in the literature
Summary
Mycotoxins are secondary toxic metabolites that are produced by several species of fungi, mainly belonging to the Aspergillus, Penicillium, Alternaria, and Fusarium genera. These fungi are able to contaminate agricultural products and to produce mycotoxins under favorable conditions [1]. Mycotoxins are of significant public health concern, based on their high toxic profile. Among these contaminants some metabolites of Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, namely aflatoxins (AFs), can be found, which are classified as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) [3]. It is appropriate to keep the levels for AFs as low as reasonably achievable in both
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