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Aflatoxins B/G and Ochratoxin A in Paprika and Chili Powder

Mycotoxins

Paprika and Chili Powder

Even the Native Americans used paprika and chili powder not only to season various dishes, but also as a health-promoting remedy against osteoarthritis due to the ingredient capsaicin. Even today, the spice is still used for supportive pain treatment such as lumbago or migraines. The high vitamin C content can even improve circulatory disorders. 

Chili and Paprika are among the most Aflatoxin or Ochratoxin A investigated spices. They are susceptible to infection by mycotoxin producing fungi at every stage of cultivation, harvest and storage.

CrossTOX® Multi-Mycotoxin Column

The CrossTOX® columns by LCTech allow a high efficient sample clean-up of all regulated plus expected mycotoxins in a single step. At the same time, the columns improve the conventional dilute-and-shoot process via an QuEChERS based procedure:

  • High purity of extracts due to special sorbents for high matrix binding; no separate filtration;  no additional filtration necessary
  • Significantly less internal standard required due to special affinity mechanism of the columns
  • Less cleaning and maintenance of your LC-MS/MS system due to the high purity of the extracts
  • Only one column for a wide range of matrices

The columns are suitable for both manual and automated processing. 

Processing Protocol

CrossTOX® Multi-Mycotoxin Column

Homogenise 10 g of paprika/chili powder and extract the sample with 100 mL acetonitrile/water/acetic acid (84/15/1 (v/v)) and 50 mL n-hexane to remove essential oils and fats. For high extraction efficiency, continue the extraction for at least 10 minutes. 

Filter the raw extract. A phase separation between n-hexane and acetonitrile-containing phase can be accelerated by centrifugation at 3000 x g for 5 minutes. Let pass 0.5 - 1 mL of the lower (n-hexane-free phase) slowly through the CrossTOX® column, collecting the cleaned sample using a GC-vial. A volume between 250 - 500 µL is sufficient to obtain a sample that contains a maximum depletion of matrix components. 

Find more details, recovery rates, HPLC-conditions and chromatograms here.

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