Marion RatersReinhard Matissek2014-04-042014-04-042008Eur Food Res Technol (2008) 226:1107–1112http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/207The primary objective of this study was to establish a current situation assessment of the possible occurrence of deoxynivalenol in cocoa and cocoa products. Since there was no analytic method for determining DON in cocoa and cocoa products, a special method was developed. The applicability and consistency of the method was conWrmed by performing recovery assays on various cocoa products. A special post-column derivatisation procedure was used to increase selectivity and raise sensitivity by a factor of 80. The method’s limit of detection (LOD) was thereby reduced to 7 g/kg; the limit of quantiWcation (LOQ) was 14 g/kg. The method was used to test 230 samples for possible DON content, ranging from cocoa beans to cocoa bean shells, nibs, cocoa liquor and cocoa powders through to Wnished cocoa-based products. In the case of cocoa beans and cocoa bean shells, DON content close to the detection limit was only determined in isolated cases. No DON content was detected in nibs, cocoa liquor, cocoa powders and Wnished cocoa-based products. Analogous to ochratoxin A and aXatoxins, the results show DON is more likely to be found in cocoa bean shells. Separation of shells during cocoa processing can reduce potential DON contents. Since no DON was determined in the fractions relevant for chocolate production, these assays show it does not represent a considerable issue for the cocoa and chocolate industry.enDeoxynivalenolCocoaCocoa productsPost-column derivatisationMethod validationArticle