Performance evaluation of lateral flow immuno assay test kits for quantification of deoxynivalenol in wheat

Lateral flow immuno assay test kits for determining the presence of deoxynivalenol (DON) in grain provide relatively simple, cheap and quick detection means, but are only useful if they provide reliable and accurate results. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of four different lateral flow immune assay test kits, being Reveal Q+ DON (Neogen), Donsensor (Unisensor), RidaQuick DON (R-Biopharm AG), and RosaFast DON (Charm Sciences Inc.). The performance was evaluated based on accuracy, repeatability, and toxin recovery of the test kits using three types of wheat sample material. These included samples spiked at three different DON concentrations, reference material with a DON concentration of 900 μg/kg, and naturally contaminated samples with a wide range of DON concentrations. s revealed that, in general, Reveal Q+ and Donsensor were the most accurate methods, whereas the performances of RidaQuick and RosaFast were much lower. Mean toxin recovery and repeatability of Reveal Q+ and Donsensor complied with EC requirements for analytical methods used for official control of DON in foodstuffs. Reveal Q+ and Donsensor also showed high accuracy. RidaQuick and RosaFast showed lower performance, in particular recovery of RidaQuick was lowest. However, laboratory procedures for the latter two test kits were easier to follow. In particular, RidaQuick has the easiest testing procedure and can be applied on-site without technical skills. Future research could focus on a more in-depth evaluation of the performance of Reveal Q+ and Donsensor, also including evaluation of between laboratory reproducibility.