Abstract—Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by several species of fungi that occurs in agricultural commodities, which cause a great variety of toxic effects in vertebrates, including humans. In this study, a “dilute-and-shoot” method using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was evaluated and applied to assess the incidence of aflatoxins (AF) B₁, B₂, G₁ and G₂, fumonisins (FB) B₁ and B₂, ochratoxin A (OTA), zearalenone (ZEA) and deoxynivalenol (DON) in samples of corn meal (N = 4), corn flour (N=2), wheat flour (N=4), rice (N=14) and bean (N=12) collected in small-scale farms from São Paulo, Brazil. The performance parameters (aparent recovery, matrix effect, extraction recovery, linearity, limit of quantification and limit of detection) were satisfactory, and the most frequent mycotoxin detected in food samples was FB (7.11-316.04 μg/kg) below the Brazilian regulations. DON was detected in all samples of wheat flour (162.49-324.66 μg/kg) along with FB in 3 samples, and in one sample of bean (46.52 μg/kg). ZEA was detected in 2 samples of rice (4.90-6.78 μg/kg). Results indicated low incidences of mycotoxin in the products evaluated, although the co-occurrence of FB and DON warrants concern about their incidence in wheat flour in Brazil.
 

Index Terms—aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, Fusarium toxins, occurrence, LC-MS/MS, analysis

Cite: Larissa T. Franco, Tânia Petta, Maria E. Vendrametto, and Carlos A. F. Oliveira, "Performance and Application of a “Dilute-and-Shoot” LC-MS/MS Method for Determination of Mycotoxins in Food Products in São Paulo, Brazil," International Journal of Food Engineering, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 206-211, September 2018. doi: 10.18178/ijfe.4.3.206-211