T-2 and HT-2 toxin analysis in cereals and cereal products following IAC cleanup and determination via GC-ECD after derivatization

The authors present a new and sensitive method for the determination of T-2- und HT-2 Toxin in cereals and cereal products in the low ppb level. A representative part of the cereal sample is extracted with a mixture of methanol-water (90:10) and the extract is cleaned on the commercially available immunoaffinity column T-2test™ (IAC), eluted with methanol, derivatized by pentafluorpropionic anhydride (PFPA) and measured on a GC-ECD. The method has been successfully validated on wheat, rye and oats. The recovery rates with wheat and rye endowed on a level of 50 ppb and with 85 ppb naturally contaminated oats were 71–115% with a coefficient of variation of 5.7–19.5%. The detection limits of the method with a signal to noise level of 3:1 were 1.5–2.3 μg/kg for HT-2 and 1.1–1.7 μg/kg for T-2 toxin. Financial support: Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (part of the project 05HS 001 — Improvement and validation of type A trichothecene (T-2 toxin and HT-2 toxin) analysis and occurrence of these mycotoxins in food marketed in Germany)