Inter-laboratory study on simultaneous quantification of ten trichothecenes in feed

An inter-laboratory study was performed in eight laboratories to evaluate the simultaneous quantification method for HT-2 toxin (HT-2), T-2 toxin (T-2), diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS), neosolaniol (NES), 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol (3-AcDON), 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol (15-AcDON), deoxynivalenol (DON), deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside (D3G), nivalenol (NIV), and fusarenon-X (FUS-X) in feed. The mycotoxins in the samples were extracted with hydrous acetonitrile, purified using a multifunctional column (InertSep^® VRA-3) and a phospholipid removal column (Hybrid SPE^®-Phospholipid), and then quantified using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) with atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation mode. The mean recovery, repeatability, reproducibility, and Horwitz ratio from the inter-laboratory validation study were 99.8-109%, 3.1-9.8%, 4.3-9.8%, and 0.19-0.45, respectively, for type A trichothecenes (HT-2, T-2, DAS, and NES). Those values for type B trichothecenes (3-AcDON, 15-AcDON, DON, NIV, and FUS-X) were 89.9-116%, 3.4-9.1%, 5.6-14%, and 0.25-0.70, and the values for modified mycotoxin (D3G) were 78.2-96.7%, 3.5-6.4%, and 13-22%, respectively.