Multimycotoxin detection and clean-up method for aflatoxins, ochratoxin and zearalenone in animal feed ingredients using high-performance liquid chromatography and gel permeation chromatography.

A sensitive and reliable method is described for the determination of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2, ochratoxin A and zearalenone in animal feed ingredients. A multi-toxin extraction and clean-up procedure is used, with dichloromethane-1 M hydrochloric acid (10:1) being used for the extraction and gel permeation chromatography being used for the clean-up. The liquid chromatographic method developed for the separation of the six mycotoxins involves gradient elution with a reversed-phase C18 column and fluorescence detection. Recoveries, repeatability and reproducibility have been determined on maize, palm and wheat. The detection limits varied depending on the type of feed.