Time-Resolved Fluorescence Immunochromatography Assay (TRFICA) for Aflatoxin: Aiming at Increasing Strip Method Sensitivity

Aflatoxin is the most harmful mycotoxin that is ubiquitous in foods and agro-products. Because of its high toxicity, maximum admissible levels of aflatoxins (AF) is regulated worldwide, and monitoring of their occurrence in several commodities is mandatory for assuring food safety and consumers’ health. Considering that the strip method is very simple and convenient for users, in order to enhance strip assay’s sensitivity, a lot of time-resolved fluorescence immunochromatography assays (TRFICAs) were developed recently with increasing several times of assay sensitivity compared with traditional gold nanoparticle-based strip assay (GNP-SA). This review briefly describes the newly developed TRFICA for aflatoxin determination, including TRFICA for aflatoxin B(1) (AFB(1)) detection, TRFICA for aflatoxin M(1) (AFM(1)) detection, TRFICA for total aflatoxins (AFB(1) + B(2) + G(1) + G(2)) detection and the latest identification-nanobody-based TRFICA for aflatoxin detection. The application of TRFICA for aflatoxin detection in different agro-products is also concluded in this review. Reasonably, TRFICA has been becoming one of the most important tool for monitoring aflatoxin in foods and agro-products.