Aflatoxin monitoring in Italian hazelnut products by LC-MS.
Hazelnut samples of different origin were collected in stores in Northern Italy and analysed for aflatoxin (AF) contamination by a sensitive chromatographic method on the basis of a tandem mass spectrometer with electrospray ionisation. The effects of two extracting solvent mixtures (methanol/water and acetonitrile/water) and different extraction times were tested and compared in terms of recovery. Analysis showed that 35 out of 93 samples (37.6%) were contaminated by AFs. The incidence of positive samples was higher in Turkish (66.7%) than in Italian samples (35.9%). Mean AF contamination was higher (p = 0.045, Kruskal-Wallis test) in the Turkish samples (0.33 µg kg(-1)) compared to the Italian (0.14 µg kg(-1)) ones. In both cases, however, a low level of total AF contamination was found in the positive samples (0.64 µg kg(-1)), both being far below the maximum limit set in European legislation.
a Centre of Competence for the Innovation in the Agro-environmental Sector (AGROINNOVA) , University of Turin , Grugliasco , TO , Italy.
Ambra
A
Prelle
Davide
D
Spadaro
Angelo
A
Garibaldi
Maria Lodovica
ML
Gullino
D000348:Aflatoxins / Q000032:analysis*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D031211:Corylus / Q000382:microbiology; D004032:Diet; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D005658:Fungi; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D009754:Nuts / Q000382:microbiology; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
D000348:Aflatoxins
Aspergillus; LC-MS; Northern Italy; aflatoxin; electrospray ionisation; hazelnut