Recent Advances in the Post-Column Derivatization for the Determination of Mycotoxins in Food Products and Feed Materials by Liquid Chromatography and Fluorescence Detection

The problems and risks associated with mycotoxin contamination of foods and feedstuffs have led to the development of a variety of confirmatory analytical methods for their determination, based on chromatographic techniques and capillary electrophoresis. In this paper, an overview of the analytical methods developed in the last decade and based on post-column derivatization coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography and fluorescence detection is reported. A particular focus on the determination of aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1 and G2), fumonisins (B1 and B2) and trichotecenes deoxynivalenol (DON) and nivalenol (NIV) in cereals products for human and animal consumption is given. Important aspects as the optimization of the experimental conditions and validation of the analytical methods are also described.