Advances in sampling and analysis for aflatoxins in food and animal feed

Advances in analytical methods and novel detection systems are reviewed from publications from 1995 onwards. The review covers aflatoxins B-1, B-2, G(1), G(2), and their metabolites in food, animal feed and biological matrices such as blood and urine. Improved extraction techniques, new clean-up methods and optimized methods for specific matrices are summarized. This review highlights methods such as thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high performance-TLC (HPTLC), which are particularly suited to developing countries, and advances that have been made in TLC quantification through low cost detection and scanning systems. Novel developments in detection of aflatoxins are assessed such as the application of surface plasmon resonance biosensors, flow injection monitoring, fibre optic sensors, capillary electrokinetics, electrochemical transduction, and immunological-based rapid test kits. Recent advances in confirmatory techniques such as liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) for aflatoxins are also covered. This review summarizes performance data from recent collaborative studies, and assesses the overall quality of analytical data for aflatoxins being produced worldwide, as evidenced by results from various proficiency testing schemes. Although there are only a few recent studies on sampling for aflatoxins, the recent progress in this area is also assessed.