Simultaneous Determination of Aflatoxins and Benzo(a)pyrene in Vegetable Oils Using Humic Acid-Bonded Silica SPE HPLC-PHRED-FLD

Toxins (Basel). 2022 May 18;14(5):352. doi: 10.3390/toxins14050352.

Abstract

In the present work, a rapid, accurate, and cost-effective method was developed for the simultaneous quantification of aflatoxins and benzo(a)pyrene in lipid matrices, using solid-phase extraction (SPE) via humic acid-bonded silica (HAS) sorbents, followed by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with photochemical post-column reactor fluorescence spectroscopy (HPLC-PHRED-FLD) analysis. The major parameters of extraction efficiency and HPLC-PHRED-FLD analysis were investigated and this method was fully validated. The limits of quantification and the limits of detection were 0.05-0.30 and 0.01-0.09 µg kg-1, respectively. The recoveries were 66.9%-118.4% with intra-day and inter-day precision less than 7.2%. The results of 80 oil samples from supermarkets indicated a high occurrence of BaP, and most of concentrations were within the requirements of EU and China food safety regulations. This is the first utilization of HAS-SPE HPLC-PHRED-FLD to simultaneously analyze the occurrence of aflatoxins and benzo(a)pyrene in vegetable oils.

Keywords: aflatoxins; high-performance liquid chromatography with photochemical post-column reactors fluorescence detector (HPLC–PHRED–FLD); quantification; solid-phase extraction (SPE); vegetable oil.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aflatoxins*
  • Benzo(a)pyrene
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Humic Substances
  • Plant Oils
  • Silicon Dioxide
  • Solid Phase Extraction

Substances

  • Aflatoxins
  • Humic Substances
  • Plant Oils
  • Benzo(a)pyrene
  • Silicon Dioxide

Grants and funding

This work was funded by National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFC1606600), Central Public-Interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund (1610172021005), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31201447), and the Earmarked Fund for China Agriculture Research System (CARS-12).