DIN EN 15891:2010-12

Mycotoxins are very harmful secondary metabolites produced by mold. Foodstuffs which are grown, harvested or stored under wet conditions can be attacked by mold the metabolites of which will then enter the food. Toxicity of some mycotoxins is significant for human beings; therefore a solid proof is particularly important for the health protection of consumers. In Germany Ordinance on the maximum permissible quantities of mycotoxins in foodstuffs has been introduced in order to reduce mycotoxin contamination. Since 2004 it contains not only regulations for aflatoxins, but also for ochratoxin A, fumonisins, deoxynivalenol and zearalenone. Since 2001 national provisions have been supplemented by regulations on the maximum content for contaminants in foodstuffs which are applicable throughout the EU. Maximum contents of mycotoxins in certain foodstuffs are also regulated by various other regulations. This European Standard specifies a method for the determination of deoxynivalenol (DON) in cereals (grain and flour), cereal based foods and cereal based foods for infants and young children by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with immunoaffinity cleanup and UV detection. This method has been tested in three interlaboratory studies. The first interlaboratory study was conducted on wheat, rice flour, oat flour, maize, polenta, and wheat based breakfast cereal ranging from 85,4 µg/kg to 1 768 µg/kg. The second interlaboratory study was conducted on wheat and maize ranging from 165 µg/kg to 4 700 µg/kg and the third interlaboratory study was conducted with cereal based foods for infants and young children ranging from 58 µg/kg to 452 µg/kg. In this standard deoxynivalenol is extracted from the commodity using water. The aqueous extract is cleaned up on an immunoaffinity column to remove impurities from the sample. Deoxynivalenol is then quantitatively determined by HPLC and UV detection.