Author
 |
Plattner, Ronald |
|
Submitted to: Aflatoxin Workshop
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 10/27/2000 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Ochratoxins, which were discovered in 1965 as secondary metabolites of Aspergillus ochraceus, have emerged in recent years as a significant mycotoxin concern. Ochratoxin A is frequently measured in commodities and food products because it is made by several species of fungi, is nephrotoxic, carcinogenic and implicated in the etiology of Balkan endemic nephropathy, and occurs naturally in many commodities including cereal grains, green coffee beans, peanuts, mixed feeds, and raisins. The AOAC official method for Ochratoxin A in corn and barley uses extraction, solid phase extraction cleanup, and liquid-liquid partition followed by reverse phase HPLC with detection by fluorescence with excitation at 333 nm and emission at 460 nm. An alternative approach to detection is LC/MS. We recently used this detection method to confirm the occurrence of Ochratoxin A in dust collected from a problem household. Because better signal to noise is available using LC/MS/MS lower detection limits than can be achieved for low level positive samples than were possible by LC/MS alone. Positive samples are easily confirmed in the full scan mode from injections of less than 1 ng of ochratoxin. These detection levels are compatible with the official method and affords an alternative detector response that is highly selective and based on a different principle than the normal fluorescence and may be useful either as an alternative to fluorescence detection or for confirmation of positive positive samples. |
