Abstract: Fumonisins are mycotoxins produced mainly by Fusarium verticillioides. Corn is frequently found being contaminated by fumonisins during its growth and storage. Epidemic study demonstrated that corn and corn-based products contaminated by fumonisins can cause equine leukoencephalomalacia and swine pulmonary oedema, also induce oesophageal cancer and neural tube defects of mankind. In this paper, a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method with immunoaffinity columncleanup was established to determine the fumonisins B₁ (FB₁) and B₂ (FB₂) in corn. Meanwhile, the accuracy and reproducibility of the method were evaluated by statistical technique. The results showed that the linear ranges of FB₁ andFB₂ were 0.06–5.00 μg mL^-1 and 0.04–2.50 μg mL^-1, the recovery ranges were 76.6–93.8% and 77.9–93.4%, respectively. Thequantification limit of FB₁ andFB₂ was 0.09 mg kg^-1 and 0.06 mg kg^-1, respectively. The coefficient of variation within-laboratory repeatability was below 5%, and that between-laboratories reproducibility was below 6%. Research results indicated that this method possessed good linearity, accuracy, precision, sensitivity, repeatability within a laboratory and among laboratories. Therefore, this method was proved to be suitable for determination of fumonisins in corn. Applying this method, fumonisins in 310 specimens of corn were determined. Results showed that total fumonisins (B₁+ B₂) ranged from 0.20 to 9.06 mg kg^-1 for field corn, and from 0.21 to 6.10 mg kg^-1 for stored corn. It is proposed that monitoring fumonisins’ level in corn should be reinforced to protect the health of man and livestock.

Key words: Corn, Fumonisins, HPLC, Immunoaffinity column