Automated liquid chromatographic determination of ochratoxin A in cereals and animal products using immunoaffinity column clean-up.

The analysis of the fungal mycotoxin ochratoxin A in cereals and animal products is described using an immunoaffinity column clean-up and high-performance liquid chromatographic determination. The clean-up can be carried out manually or using a commercially available automated sample preparation system. The method has been applied to cereals such as wheat, rye and barley, unprocessed breakfast cereals and animal products such as pigs' kidneys and blood sausages. Recoveries ranged from 70-80% for spiked samples (10 micrograms/kg) and the method had a relative standard deviation of 1.3% (n = 8) for the analysis of a wheat sample naturally contaminated at 13.7 micrograms/kg ochratoxin A and relative standard deviation of 3.0% (n = 8) for a pig kidney sample spiked at 10 micrograms/kg ochratoxin A. The immunoaffinity approach was significantly faster than methods employing conventional chromatographic clean-up, and extracts were freer of co-extractives giving a limit of detection of 0.2 micrograms/kg.