Immunoaffinity column clean-up prior to thin-layer chromatography for the determination of aflatoxins in various food matrices.

A one-dimensional TLC method to determine aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, G2) in various food matrices was elaborated which abstains fully on the use of chlorinated solvents. It implements an immunoaffinity clean-up step after extraction with methanol. The aflatoxins were quantified by densitometry. The method has shown to be rapid and efficient. In-house performance characteristics were established. The limit of quantification was found to be significantly lower than current regulatory limits for aflatoxin control outside and within the European Community. The obtained recovery and precision data gave a strong indication, that the method is likely to give satisfactory performance if tested in a future collaborative trial.