Analysis of Beer for Fumonisins

Abstract

Forty-one samples of beer were analyzed for fumonisins B1 and B2 (FB1 and FB2) using an immunoaffinity column cleanup followed by liquid chromatographic (LC) analysis. These samples included three later brand resamplings. All LC analyses were carried out using o-phthaldialdehyde/2-mercaptoethanol (OPA/MCE) and/or 4-fluoro-7-nitrobenzofurazan (NBD-F) derivatization procedures. Detection limits were 0.4 to 1 ng of FB1 or FB2 per ml of beer with OPA/MCE and 0.7 to 3 ng/ml with NBD-F. Recoveries of FB1 and FB2 spiked into 8 different beer samples at 2 to 10ng/ml ranged from 61 to 114% and 47 to 97%, respectively. Four samples (one of which was a resampled brand) contained >2 ng of FB1 per ml (up to 59 ng/ml).