Abstract
Mycotoxins are common food contaminants which cause poisoning and severe health risks to humans and animals. The present study applied chemometric approach in liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) optimization for simultaneous determination of mycotoxins, i.e., aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2, and ochratoxin A. The validated quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS)-LC-MS/MS method was used to study the occurrence of mycotoxins in 120 food matrices. The recovery ranges from 81.94% to 101.67% with relative standard deviation (RSD) lesser than 11%. Through the developed method, aflatoxins were detected in raisin, pistachio, peanut, wheat flour, spice, and chili samples with concentration ranges from 0.45 to 16.93 µg/kg. Trace concentration of ochratoxin A was found in wheat flour and peanut samples which ranged from 1.2 to 3.53 µg/kg. Some of the tested food samples contained mycotoxins of above the European legal maximum limit.