California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Center for Analytical Chemistry (CAC) scientists Bahar Nakhjavan, Nighat Sami Ahmed, and Maryam Khosravifard were recently published in an academic journal after developing an improved method to test for mycotoxin in feed. Their article, “Development of an Improved Method of Sample Extraction and Quantitation of Multi-Mycotoxin in Feed by LC-MS/MS,” details their research of evaluating the three most popular sample preparation techniques for determination of mycotoxins, then selecting the best method and optimizing it.
Mycotoxins are the most common contaminants in agricultural crops produced by several species of mold and fungi. During growth, maturity, harvest, storage and processing of food and animal feed products, the fungus produces mycotoxins and other secondary metabolites. Mycotoxin-contaminated food and feed threaten human and animal health even at very low concentration.
Nakhjavan, Ahmed and Khosravifard work in CDFA’s CAC Environmental Safety Laboratory. Testing for mycotoxin in food and animal feed in the Regulatory Analysis Laboratory is part of their job of preventing contaminated food and feed from being consumed by humans, livestock and poultry in California. CAC uses state-of-the-art equipment and processes to test fruits, vegetables, nuts, animal feed, milk, water and air to ensure that pesticide and chemical levels are within the safety range established by national and international standards. Additional CAC staff who contributed to the work discussed in this published paper include Sally Henandez, Jose Salazar and Sarva Balachandra.
Click here to read “Development of an Improved Method of Sample Extraction and Quantitation of Multi-Mycotoxin in Feed by LC-MS/MS,” by CAC scientists Nakhjavan, Ahmed and Khosravifard.