The Role of Analytical Chemistry in Investigating Mycotoxins within the Exposomics Framework

Abstract

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by fungi that frequently contaminate food and constitute a major source of human and animal exposure worldwide. Within the exposome framework, they are increasingly recognized as important chemical stressors due to their widespread occurrence and potential adverse health effects. Analytical chemistry plays a key role in characterizing both external exposure sources and internal exposure burdens. Recent advances, particularly liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry and high-resolution mass spectrometry, have significantly improved sensitivity, accuracy, and the ability to simultaneously detect multiple mycotoxins. This review summarizes the current state of the art and challenges in multi-mycotoxin analysis, including sample preparation and data acquisition strategies for assessing co-exposure in food matrices. It also highlights applications in human biomonitoring, emphasizing the identification of biomarkers in biofluids. Finally, the review discusses the development of comprehensive “mega-methods” to support exposome-based studies and strengthen food safety and public health assessments.