Publications

Estimation of the uncertainty of sample processing for the analysis of Fumonisin FB1 in maize
Maestroni, B., Bettaglio, M., Ambrus, A. and Rathor, N.

Abstract
Mycotoxins are toxic materials produced by various fungi that grow on several food and feed commodities before harvest and/or during storage. They may be present in very high concentrations in confined small portions of the stored commodity and have a patchy distribution. For this reason, large bulk samples have to be taken and analysed for toxin content with quantifiable uncertainty. On the other hand, large samples are neither easily nor economically transported and analysed in the laboratory, therefore the bulk sample must be reduced in size to obtain a test portion that is of suitable size, and is representative of the average concentration of the contaminants in the sample with quantifiable uncertainty. The present paper describes one study carried out at the FAO/IAEA laboratory for the estimation of the uncertainty of subsampling for fumonisin FB1 determination in maize samples. It was estimated that the combined relative standard uncertainty (CVSP) of sample processing of 25 g analytical portion was equal to 0.36.