Determination of alternariol in tomato paste using solid phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection†

Abstract

Alternaria spp. produce a wide variety of toxic metabolites with different chemical structures. Tomato products have been considered a likely source of Alternaria toxins in the human diet because Alternaria is an important spoilage mold of tomatoes. A new method for the determination of these mycotoxins in tomato paste, involving solid phase cartridges for extraction before HPLC fluorescence detection with a reversed phase column and isocratic elution, was developed. The method was demonstrated to be linear in the range 5.2–196 ppb of alternariol (AOH) in tomato paste. Good recoveries were obtained for AOH at all levels assayed (minimum 77.2%). The detection limit of the AOH toxin in real samples of tomato paste was low, 1.93 ppb. The precision of the method was demonstrated with a good repeatability (RSD = 2.98%) and reproducibility (RSD = 9.35%).