Many foodstuffs are extremely susceptible to contamination with aflatoxins, in which aflatoxin B1 is highly toxic and carcinogenic. Therefore, it is crucial to develop a rapid and effective analytical method for detecting and monitoring aflatoxin B1 in food. Herein, a surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopic (SERS) method combined with QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap-effective, rugged, safe) sample pretreatment technique was used to detect aflatoxin B1. Sample preparation was optimized into a one-step extraction method using an Au nanoparticle-based solution (Au sol) as the SERS detection substrate. An affordable portable Raman spectrometer was then used for rapid, label-free, quantitative detection of aflatoxin B1 levels in foodstuffs. This method showed a good linear log relationship between the Raman signal intensity of aflatoxin B1 in the 1-1000 µg L-1 concentration range with a limit of detection of 0.85 µg kg-1 and a correlation coefficient of 0.9836. Rapid aflatoxin B1 detection times of ∼10 min for wheat, corn, and protein feed powder samples were also achieved. This method has high sensitivity, strong specificity, excellent stability, is simple to use, economical, and is suitable for on-site detection, with good prospects for practical application in the field of food safety.
Keywords: Aflatoxin B1; QuEChERS; SERS; detection; food safety; quantitative; surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.