Anti-Aflatoxin B1 monoclonal antibody, clone Dpw6C4

Aflatoxin B1 and B2 are extremely toxic to humans and commonly found in agricultural and food products. Thus, rapid and accurate detection and identification of these substances is essential to prevent human and animal health problems due to their consumption. Here, we present a metamaterial-based terahertz biosensor that has the potential for high-sensitivity, quantitative identification of aflatoxin B1 and B2 in extremely small amounts. By combining with conventional terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and the Maxwell-Garnett effective medium theory, we directly obtained accurate information of the refractive index, absorption coefficient, and dielectric function of these aflatoxins, which are essential parameters to understand their physical properties for their identification. Furthermore, the resonant frequency of the proposed biosensor was in a frequency range wherein the largest difference between the two aflatoxins was observed. In addition, the sensing of aflatoxin B1 and B2 was demonstrated as a function of content, thickness and dielectric constant by the THz biosensor and finite-element simulation. Consequently, a qualitative and quantitative identification of trace aflatoxin B1 and B2 without label was achieved.

Fungal metabolites including regulated mycotoxins were identified by a validated LC-MS/MS method in 180 individual Turkish dried figs from 2017 and 2018 harvests. Hand-selected dried figs were subjectively classified based on the extent of fluorescence. Forty-three fungal metabolites including eight EU-regulated mycotoxins were identified and quantified. Figs classified as being uncontaminated mostly did not contain aflatoxins above 1 mu g/kg. Despite being "uncontaminated" from an aflatoxin perspective, kojic acid was present in significant quantities with a maximum level of 3750 mg/kg (0.375% w/w) and tenuazonic acid was also found (2 mu g/kg to 298 mg/kg) in some figs. Notable in the screening of figs has been the presence of significant amounts of aflatoxin M-1(AFM1) in figs also containing significant levels of aflatoxin B-1(AFB1), which is the first time that AFM1 has been reported as naturally occurring in dried figs.