Analysis of beer for fumonisins

Forty-one samples of beer were analyzed for fumonisins B-1 and B-2 (FB1 and FB2) using an immunoaffinity column cleanup followed by liquid chromatographic (LC) analysis. These samples included three later brand resamplings. All LC analyses were carried out using o-phthaldialdehyde/2-mercaptoethanol (OPA/MCE) and/or 4-fluoro-7-nitrobenzofurazan (NBD-F) derivatization procedures, Detection limits were 0.4 to 1 ng of FB1 or FB2 per ml of beer with OPA/MCE and 0.7 to 3 ng/ml with NBD-F. Recoveries of FB1 and FB2 spiked into 8 different beer samples at 2 to 10 ng/ml ranged from 61 to 114% and 47 to 97%, respectively. Four samples (one of which was a resampled brand) contained > 2 ng of FB1 per ml (up to 59 ng/ml).