Efficiency of three cleanup methods for determination of Deoxynivalenol and its determination in cereal products

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is one of the mycotoxins produced by Fusarium species. The current study was aimed to compare the efficiency of three cleanup columns (immunoaffinity, MycoSepTM #225, MycoSepTM #227), applied for the determination of DON in cereal products, using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). At first, wheat flour samples were spiked with DON at three concentrations (200, 700, 1200 ng/g), then recovery values were measured after cleanup with the columns. The amount of DON was also measured in 60 samples of cereal products (wheat flour, rice, barley flour, noodles and bread). The results showed that the highest recovery value (between 87.4±2.5 to 95.2±2.2%) was obtained from the immunoaffinity column. However, there was no significant difference between the immunoaffinity column and MycoSep 225. The lowest recovery value was obtained using MycoSep 227 column (P <0.05). The results also showed that 30 samples out of 60 (50%) were contaminated with DON. However, none of the samples exceeded the Iranian Standard limit (1000 ng/g). The highest contamination level (724.3 ng/g) was observed in a rice sample. The study showed that although the immunoaffinity column was more reliable in DON determination, MycoSep 225 showed promising recovery values. In addition, more precaution and measuring controls should be practiced by regulatory agencies to prevent mycotoxin contamination.