High-throughput determination of citrinin in rice by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography and fluorescence detection (UHPLC-FL)

A rapid, simple and effective method for the determination of citrinin in rice by UHPLC coupled to fluorescence detection has been developed and validated. Extraction of citrinin from rice samples was achieved by applying a QuEChERS-based extraction/partitioning process with water and acetonitrile, without the need of further extract clean-up. The method was fully validated for white rice, and its applicability in other rice matrices, such as brown and red rice, was confirmed by recovery experiments. Under optimum conditions, recoveries ranged from 72.5% to 92.8%, with relative standard deviations (RSDs) lower than 7.1%. Detection and quantification limits were estimated to be 1.5 and 5.0 mu gkg(-1), respectively. Finally, 21 organic rice samples were analysed, but none was contaminated with citrinin above the detection limit of the method. The method proved to be fast and non-laborious.