Development of certified reference materials for mycotoxins

The frequent occurrence of mycotoxins in food and animal feed, the high consumption of these products and the high risk associated herewith led to the establishment of measures to control the mycotoxin contamination. The analytical difficulty and the economic importance of controlling mycotoxin levels in food and animal feed led the Community Bureau of Reference (BCR) of the European Commission (EC) to fund several projects on the production of certified reference materials (CRMs) for various mycotoxins. Because of the good acceptance of these CRMs by the customers and the ability to ensure comparability and traceabilityin mycotoxin analysis further on it was required to produce new batches of ceirtain mycotoxins (e.g. aflatoxin M1) in different matrices (e.g. milk powder).