Mycotoxins detection by chromatography.

Mycotoxins are metabolites and toxic substances produced by certain filamentous fungi that frequently contaminate food and agriculture commodities and it may cause disease in animals or humans. The toxigenic fungi are responsible for mycotoxin production in food that belongs to mainly three genera: Aspergillus, Penicillium and Fusarium. The contamination of food by mycotoxins is difficult to control in addition, causing economic impacts on public health, so their identification and quantifications are very necessary. Various analytical methods are developed for the detection and quantification of mycotoxins in order to control the residual contents of these toxins. Among them there is a widely used chromatography. This paper reports some chromatographic methods for the detection and quantification of mycotoxins described in patents and scientific articles.