Simultaneous determination of aflatoxin, ochratoxin A and zearalenone by a new immunoaffinity column

Existing clean up methods for HPLC determination of mycotoxins require separate analysis for aflatoxin, ochratoxin A, and zearalenone. Described is a method for simultaneous determination of aflatoxin, ochratoxin A, and zearalenone using one sample clean up and one HPLC run. A sample is extracted in aqueous methanol. The extract is diluted with buffer and passed over an immunoaffinity column containing immobilised antibodies to aflatoxin, ochratoxin A, and zearalenone (AOZ HPLC™ column). The column is then washed and eluted. Using gradient flow and wavelength switching for detection, aflatoxins, ochratoxin A and zearalenone were measured in a single HPLC run of less than 30 minutes. Recoveries for all toxins were greater than 80% from samples of spiked maize, sorghum and wheat over the range of 0-100μg/kg total aflatoxin, 0-1,000 μg/kg zearalenone and 0-100 μg/kg ochratoxin A. Analysis using multiple mycotoxin immunoaffinity columns can save time and money in performing the mycotoxin analysis required by many countries worldwide.