Validation of an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) Test Kit for Determination of Aflatoxin B in Corn Feed and Comparison with Liquid-Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) Method

Animal feed is a potential route for contaminants like mycotoxins to enter into the human food chain. Hence, close monitoring is fundamental and should be performed with adequate analytical methods. In this study, a commercial ELISA kit for aflatoxin B detection in feed corn samples, RIDASCREEN® Aflatoxin B1 30/15, was assessed by the evaluation of some performance parameters. Basically, the following results were achieved: limit of detection of 1.1 μg/kg and limit of quantification of 2.5 μg/kg; repeatability of 9.3%; 18.0% of intermediate precision; trueness of 101.8%; relative expanded uncertainty of ± 0.46 μg/kg; cut-off value of 14 μg/kg and a very low rate of false suspect results, for screening. In addition, specific requirements for the appliance of this kit as a screening method at the concentration of 20 μg/kg were also determined. Lastly, corn samples were analysed with the kit and with an LC-MS/MS method, and the results were compared. Among the 40 corn samples analysed, only one sample was contaminated with a quantifiable aflatoxin B content. The results obtained with the ELISA kit were confirmed by LC-MS/MS. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]