Preparation and characterization of an immunoaffinity column for the selective extraction of aflatoxin B1 in 13 kinds of foodstuffs

Abstract A rapid and reliable immunoaffinity column (IAC) clean-up based ultra performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC–MS/MS) method was developed for the determination of aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ) in cereals, peanuts, vegetable oils and Chinese traditional food products like sufu and lobster sauce. The immunoaffinity column of AFB 1 (AFB 1 -IAC) was prepared by coupling CNBr-activated Sepharose-4B with the anti-AFB 1 monoclonal antibody. The column capacity of IAC was over 260 ng/mL gel. Samples were extracted with methanol–water (60:40, v/v) and the extracts were then purified on an AFB 1 -IAC before UPLC–MS/MS analysis. The average recoveries of AFB 1 in spiked samples at levels of 1.0, 5.0 and 10.0 μg/kg ranged from 72% to 98%, with the relative standard deviations of 1.2–9.3% ( n  = 6). The limits of qualification ranged from 0.07 to 0.23 μg/kg, which were below the MRLs of AFB 1 in the matrices evaluated. In this work, the developed method was suitable for the determination of trace AFB 1 residues in 13 kinds of foodstuffs.