In the practice of aquaculture, vegetable ingredients and processed animal protein (PAP) are alternative foods suitable for feeding fish. However, the use of these materials can introduce contaminants that are not previously associated with salmon. One of these contaminants may be mycotoxins. They are well known as natural contaminants in plant foods, although they can also grow in PAP during storage due to the growth of fungi. In this study 17 samples of feed for fish of vegetable origin were analyzed in order to detect/quantify the presence of 15 different mycotoxins. The analyses were performed by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled to tandem mass spectrometry with triple quadrupole. Extraction recoveries between 70 and 120% were obtained for most analytes. The limits of quantification were lower than the maximum levels allowed for each mycotoxin. A high confidence confirmation of positive samples was achieved thanks to the acquisition of three SRM transitions per compound. This was supported by the deviations below 30% of the Q/q ratios and the retention time with minor differences of 0.1 min compared to the reference standards. In all the studied feeds, no mycotoxin exceeded the maximum levels allowed by the European Commission. The highest concentrations of mycotoxins were found for FB1 and FB2, with concentrations of 190 and 193 μg/kg, respectively. The only ones that were not detected or quantified were FUS X, NEO, 3-AcDON, AFG1, AFG2 and ZEN.

Treball Final de Grau en Química. Codi: QU0943. Curs acadèmic: 2018/2019