BAM Federal Institute for Material Research and Testing, Richard-Willstätter-Str. 11, 12489, Berlin, Germany.
Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2010 May;86(6):1595-612. doi: 10.1007/s00253-010-2535-1. Epub 2010 Mar 26.
Mycotoxins are natural contaminants produced by a range of fungal species. Their common occurrence in food and feed poses a threat to the health of humans and animals. This threat is caused either by the direct contamination of agricultural commodities or by a "carry-over" of mycotoxins and their metabolites into animal tissues, milk, and eggs after feeding of contaminated hay or corn. As a consequence of their diverse chemical structures and varying physical properties, mycotoxins exhibit a wide range of biological effects. Individual mycotoxins can be genotoxic, mutagenic, carcinogenic, teratogenic, and oestrogenic. To protect consumer health and to reduce economic losses, surveillance and control of mycotoxins in food and feed has become a major objective for producers, regulatory authorities and researchers worldwide. However, the variety of chemical structures makes it impossible to use one single technique for mycotoxin analysis. Hence, a vast number of analytical methods has been developed and validated. The heterogeneity of food matrices combined with the demand for a fast, simultaneous and accurate determination of multiple mycotoxins creates enormous challenges for routine analysis. The most crucial issues will be discussed in this review. These are (1) the collection of representative samples, (2) the performance of classical and emerging analytical methods based on chromatographic or immunochemical techniques, (3) the validation of official methods for enforcement, and (4) the limitations and future prospects of the current methods.
真菌毒素是由多种真菌物种产生的天然污染物。它们在食品和饲料中的普遍存在对人类和动物的健康构成了威胁。这种威胁要么是由于农业商品的直接污染，要么是由于食用受污染的干草或玉米后，真菌毒素及其代谢物“转移”到动物组织、牛奶和鸡蛋中造成的。由于其多样化的化学结构和不同的物理性质，真菌毒素表现出广泛的生物学效应。个别真菌毒素具有遗传毒性、致突变性、致癌性、致畸性和雌激素性。为了保护消费者健康并减少经济损失，对食品和饲料中真菌毒素的监测和控制已成为全球生产者、监管机构和研究人员的主要目标。然而，由于化学结构的多样性，不可能使用单一技术进行真菌毒素分析。因此，已经开发和验证了大量的分析方法。食品基质的异质性以及对快速、同时和准确测定多种真菌毒素的需求给常规分析带来了巨大挑战。本文将讨论最关键的问题。这些问题是：（1）代表性样品的采集；（2）基于色谱或免疫化学技术的经典和新兴分析方法的性能；（3）执法用官方方法的验证；以及（4）当前方法的局限性和未来前景。
