Mycotoxin Test Methods

The question of which mycotoxin test method is best for your needs has no one-size-fits-all answer. To ensure the best return on investment, your decision-making process should weigh the accuracy, precision, and reliability of the methods under consideration against the specific demands of your applications and your industry and market priorities. The following review of longstanding and emerging qualitative and quantitative mycotoxin test methods outlines their performance characteristics, as well their practical benefits and tradeoffs for business and laboratory end users.

Today's increasingly extensive selection of cost-efficient rapid methods offers a diverse range of targeted solutions to the complex challenges of identifying and managing mycotoxin contamination at every phase of the global food and feed chain.

Lateral flow strips This simple visual detection method enables nontechnical users to quickly and accurately discriminate between positive and negative samples at or near USDA/GIPSA levels. With their ease-of-use and long-term stability across wide range of climates, these immunoassays are particularly well adapted for testing in the field. The entire testing process, including sample preparation, usually takes less than 10 minutes to complete.* In addition to providing a quick yes or no answer at predetermined thresholds, a number of kits enable users to convert the antibody line on positive test strips into numerical estimates of mycotoxin concentrations with a handheld optical scanner.

* Capillary flow times, cut-off thresholds, sensitivity, and other performance characteristics vary depending on product's design specifications and the materials and processes used in its manufacture.

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) This long-established immunological method enables users to visually determine the presence of mycotoxin contamination by applying colorimetric reagents to sample extracts on antibody-coated microtiter plates, tubes, membranes, or other solid surfaces. No advanced training or costly laboratory instruments are required. Many kits can also be used with optical microplate readers that calculate and record numerical results.

Rapid fluorometric test kits This cost-effective quantitative method enables non-technical users to analyze sample extracts with a handheld device that measures the fluorescence of the target mycotoxins and records the test data. The devices are relatively inexpensive, simple for non-technical users to operate, and deliver results at trace (ppb/ppt) levels in a little as 10 minutes.** Although most fluorometric applications require sample cleanup to remove compounds that might interfere with test results, the use of rapid immunoaffinity and solid-phase cleanup columns enables non-technical personnel to easily perform this step in the field.    

**Precision, speed, and other performance characteristics and features of this method may vary depending on the design of instrument and cleanup method used.

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), combined chromatographic techniques, and liquid chromatography used in tandem with mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) represent the state of the art in quantitative mycotoxin analysis. These sophisticated instrumental methods meet the exacting performance criteria of international standards bodies such as European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and are the methods of choice for high-risk regulatory issues, simultaneous analysis of multiple mycotoxin species, and other challenging applications that require outsourcing to large public sector or commercial analytic laboratories.