Abstract: Alternaria mycotoxins are a class of important, agriculture-related hazardous materials, andtheir contamination in ruminant feeds and products might bring severe toxic effects to animals andeven human beings. To control these hazardous compounds, a reliable and sensitive LC-MS/S(liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry) method was established for simultaneousdetermination of six target Alternaria mycotoxins in ruminant feeds, including ALT (Altenuene), AME(Alternariol Monomethyl Ether), AOH (Alternariol), ATX-I (Altertoxins I), TeA (Tenuazonic Acid)and TEN (Tentoxin). This developed analytical method was used for the determination of the presenceof these substances in cattle and sheep feeds in Xinjiang Province, China. The results revealed thatAlternaria mycotoxins are ubiquitously detected in feed samples. Especially, AME, AOH, TeA, and TEN are the most frequently found mycotoxins with a positive rate over 40% and a condentrationrange of 4~551 ug/kg. The proposed method could be applied for exposure investigation of Alternariamycotoxins in ruminant feeds and for the reduction in the health risk to animals and even consumers.

Keywords:Alternaria mycotoxin; ruminant feeds; LC-MS/MS; analysis; exposure investigation

Alternaria Mycotoxins Analysis and Exposure Investigation in Ruminant Feeds.pdf