Method Development and Validation for the Analysis of Emerging and Traditional Fusarium Mycotoxins in Pepper, Potato, Tomato, and Cucumber by UPLC-MS/MS

Fusarium species are one of the common pathogenic fungi of vegetable diseases. Some Fusarium species produce toxic secondary metabolites, which have potential health risks for humans and animals. In the study, an ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method (UPLC-MS/MS) was developed for the analysis of 13 emerging and traditional Fusarium toxins in pepper, tomato, cucumber, and potato. Samples were extracted by a modified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe method. Dispersive solid-phase extraction was employed for the removal of matrix interferences from the crude extracts of various vegetables. Matrix effect was compensated using matrix-matched calibration curves. The method was fully validated according to the European Commission Decision 2002/657/EC. For all the targeted analytes, good linearity ( R 2  ≥ 0.9823) was obtained. Recoveries were in the range of 62 and 114% in pepper, tomato, cucumber, and potato, with intra-day relative standard deviations lower than 14.3%. Quantitation limits of the developed method were between 0.25 and 20 μg/kg in four sample matrices. The method was successfully employed for the analysis of Fusarium toxins in vegetable samples.