A New High-Performance Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry Method Based on Dispersive Solid Phase Extraction for the Determination of the Mycotoxin Fusarin C in Corn Ears and Processed Corn Samples

Abstract

Fusarin C is a mycotoxin that is produced by a variety of Fusarium species and is therefore a possible contaminant in food and feed. For this reason, a reliable high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) method for the determination of fusarin C in food and feed samples was developed based on dispersive solid phase extraction (DSPE). This method has a limit of detection (LOD) of 2 μg/kg, a limit of quantitation (LOQ) of 7 μg/kg, and a recovery rate of 80%. Fifty different corn samples were analyzed, and fusarin C was detected in 40 of them. The fusarin C level varied in kernels of corn ears from not detectable up to 83 mg/kg and in food samples from not detectable up to 28 μg/kg. The co-occurrence of further structural analogues of fusarin C was confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography Fourier transformation mass spectrometry (HPLC-FTMS). In addition, the stability of fusarin C under storage conditions was evaluated.