*Article*

## **E** ffi**cient and Simultaneous Chitosan-Mediated Removal of 11 Mycotoxins from Palm Kernel Cake**

#### **Atena Abbasi Pirouz 1,2, Jinap Selamat 1,3\*, Shahzad Zafar Iqbal 4 and Nik Iskandar Putra Samsudin 1,3**


Received: 19 September 2019; Accepted: 29 October 2019; Published: 12 February 2020

**Abstract:** Mycotoxins are an important class of pollutants that are toxic and hazardous to animal and human health. Consequently, various methods have been explored to abate their e ffects, among which adsorbent has found prominent application. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) has recently been applied for the concurrent evaluation of multiple mycotoxins. This study investigated the optimization of the simultaneous removal of mycotoxins in palm kernel cake (PKC) using chitosan. The removal of 11 mycotoxins such as aflatoxins (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2), ochratoxin A (OTA), zearalenone (ZEA), fumonisins (FB1 and FB2) and trichothecenes (deoxynivalenol (DON), HT-2 and T-2 toxin) from palm kernel cake (PKC) was studied. The e ffects of operating parameters such as pH (3–6), temperature (30–50 ◦C) and time (4–8 h) on the removal of the mycotoxins were investigated using response surface methodology (RSM). Response surface models obtained with *R<sup>2</sup>* values ranging from 0.89–0.98 fitted well with the experimental data, except for the trichothecenes. The optimum point was obtained at pH 4, 8 h and 35 ◦C. The maximum removal achieved with chitosan for AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2, OTA, ZEA, FB1 and FB2 under the optimized conditions were 94.35, 45.90, 82.11, 84.29, 90.03, 51.30, 90.53 and 90.18%, respectively.

**Keywords:** chitosan; mycotoxins; detoxification; LC-MS/MS; optimization

**Key Contribution:** This study presents for first time the removal of 11 mycotoxins simultaneously by using chitosan as adsorbent. Chitosan could e fficiently adsorb eight mycotoxins simultaneously.
