Reliable and Accessible Method for Trichothecenes Type B Determination in Oat Products

This study assessed a reliable and accessible method based on QuEChERS (quicky, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) and HPLC-PDA to determine simultaneously deoxynivalenol (DON), nivalenol (NIV), 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol (3-ADON), and 15-acetyl-deoxynivalenol (15-ADON) to be applied to monitor the contamination indifferent oat products. These mycotoxins can affect the functionality of oat products that are used in the feed of different human groups. Trichothecene's determination is laborious and expensive, limiting to determine them frequently in this food chain. QuEChERS extraction was adapted by testing alternative sorbents in the dispersive solid-phase extraction (d-SPE) step. Quantification was carried out by HPLC-PDA, previously evaluated for its performance (concentration range of 35.7-3571.4 mu g/kg for NIV and 71.4-3571.4 mu g/kg for DON, 3-ADON, and 15-ADON). The final validated method was applied to different oat products commercialized in Brazil. Best recoveries (varied from 65.4 to 97.6%) were obtained with alumina in QuEChERS d-SPE step that reduced the cost at least 6 times compared to sorbents such as PSA and C18. PDA detector, 3 times less expensive than other universal detectors, proved to be accurate and sensitive for trichothecene signals. The samples were naturally contaminated with at least one trichothecene. Medium oat flakes showed a higher occurrence of type B trichothecenes, 85.7%, 100%, 28.6%, and 28.6% for NIV, DON, 3-ADON, and 15-ADON, respectively. DON stood out because its levels were above the EU (750 mu g/kg) and Brazilian legislation (1000 mu g/kg) in 10 and 6.7% of the samples, respectively, reinforcing the importance of developing fast, safe, cheap, and reliable methods to evaluate and guarantee the quality of different oat products.

Automated summary

This study assessed a reliable and accessible method based on QuEChERS and HPLC-PDA for simultaneous determination of several mycotoxins in oat products. The method proved to be accurate, reliable, and cost-effective for monitoring and ensuring the quality of different oat products.