Performance of modern sample preparation techniques in the analysis of Fusarium mycotoxins in cereals

The efficiency of modern sample preparation techniques are discussed and compared to well-established techniques with respect to the determination of zearalenone in corn and B-trichothecenes in wheat in the mu g/kg range. This includes the use of immune-affinity columns and of multifunctional Mycosep columns as well as the employment of supercritical fluid extraction for the trace analysis of these major fusarium mycotoxins. In addition, the performance of new analytical methods was investigated in an interlaboratory comparison study only recently organized by our laboratory. From both the validation data, and from the results of the intercomparison study, the suitability and competitiveness of the described methods could be clearly demonstrated. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.