Development and evaluation of an up-converting phosphor technology-based lateral flow assay for rapid and quantitative detection of aflatoxin B1 in crops

Abstract Contamination of grains and other crops by aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), a highly toxic aflatoxin produced by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus , poses a serious threat to human health and is an important food safety issue. In this study, a competitive up-converting phosphor technology-based lateral flow (AFB1-UPT-LF) assay was developed for rapid detection of AFB1. Detection sensitivity of the proposed assay can reach 0.03 ng mL −1 for standard AFB1 solutions, with the coefficients of variation (CV) less than 10% (from 1.0 to 9.4%). A good linearity ( r =0.9889) was observed for quantification of AFB1 from 0.03 to 1000 ng mL −1 . Except for aflatoxin M1, no cross-reactivity was found with the abrin, ricin, ochratoxin A, botulinum toxin, shiga toxin 1, shiga toxin 2, and staphylococcal enterotoxin B, even at high concentrations of 100 or 1000 ng mL − 1 . After optimizing the extraction of AFB1, the assay showed good tolerance to various crop samples, with the detection limit (from 0.1 to 5 ng g − 1 ) lower than the corresponding maximum residue level (MRL) set in China. The AFB1-UPT-LF assay provides a promising tool for rapid on-site detection of AFB1 because of its high sensitivity, specificity, and sample tolerance.