Nivalenol Contamination Analysis

Nivalenol (NIV) is a natural-occurring mycotoxin belonging to the trichothecene group and mainly produced by the certain fungi of the Fusarium species.

Figure 1. Chemical structure of nivalenol and related contaminated foods

Nivalenol can be found in a variety of agriculture crops and their further processed products. Fusarium species are commonly found in soil and probably the most prevalent fungi that can produce different mycotoxin of the class of trichothecenes in the northern temperature regions. The optimal conditions for the fungi infection and propagation are high humidity of air and moderate temperature. They can form mycotoxin nivalenol under cool and moist conditions. The foods that are commonly associated with nivalenol contamination include various cereal crops such as maize, wheat, barley and oats and their process grains such as beer and bread. Nivalenol is soluble in organic solvents with medium to high polarity.

Nivalenol has been shown to cause a number of toxic effects such as the haematotoxic, immunotoxic and reproductive toxicity effects in animal studies. Nivalenol is not found in foods as commonly as deoxynivalenol, however it demonstrates higher toxicity in animal studies. The toxicity of nivalenol is often compared to the toxicity of deoxynivalenol. Nivalenol was shown to inhibit protein synthesis in rabbit studies and inhibit the synthesis of nucleic acids in vitro. The toxicity of nivalenol in humans is still under investigation and most parts are unknown yet. But the studies in animals also showed that the adverse effects caused by nivalenol.

The Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) has issued a temporary tolerable daily intake (TDI) for nivalenol as 0.7 μg/kg body weight per day. Currently there are no worldwide legal maximum levels that have been established for nivalenol in foods and animal feeds. In the European Commission Recommendation which regulates the undesirable substances in animal feeds, nivalenol is not regulated. The maximum limits of deoxynivalenol is used as the relevant reference to assess the co-occurrence of nivalenol in foods and animal feeds.

Nivalenol often occurs as a co-contaminant especially with other type B trichothecenes. It is usually analyzed simultaneously with this group of mycotoxins. The procedure for the analysis of nivalenol in foods and animal feeds includes the sample preparation and extraction, purification, and detection/quantification. We have expertise in the sample preparation of a variety types of food matrices. The sample preparation has a significant effect on the accuracy of the level measured in the food samples due to the possible inhomogeneous distribution of mycotoxins in a lot of grain samples. The samples are stored under appropriate conditions after sampling to minimize the continuous growth of the fungi.

We offer accurate and validated analytical platforms for both identification and quantification that have been widely applied in the determination of nivalenol in food and feed samples to meet customers' needs.

Liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS)

LC-MS is a widely used laboratory based method for the analysis of nivalenol. The method offers high sensitivity and accuracy.

We also maintain high quality assurance for the analysis. The recovery of internal standard, the use of blanks and spikes is monitored for each batch of analysis.