Mycotoxins are toxic small-molecular-mass compounds produced naturally by toxigenic fungi. Ingestion of mycotoxin-contaminated products has a high potential to cause carcinogenic, teratogenic, and mutagenic effects in the human body. As mycotoxin residues have been detected in both foods and Chinese herbal medicine, the development of effective methods for rapid and highly sensitive detection as well as green detoxification of mycotoxins has become a research priority. Magnetic nanoparticles have high specific surface area, high surface energy and high magnetic response and hence have great potential for application as magnetic adsorbent carriers in mycotoxin detection and detoxification. This paper summarizes the methods used for the preparation and functionalized modification of common magnetic nanomaterials and their applications in mycotoxin detection and detoxification, and discusses future trends in mycotoxin control.

For time immemorial, Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) have been widely used in China for disease treatment and promotion of general well-being. However, in recent years, many studies have shown that mycotoxins produced by fungi could contaminate CHMs due to unfavourable pre- or post-harvest conditions, raising major concern for consumer safety. At present, there is a significant focus on developing novel mycotoxin detection methods for analysing CHMs, and numerous studies have aimed to determine which kinds of raw herbal materials are most susceptible to mycotoxin contamination. In this review, we focus on recent advances in understanding and detection of mycotoxins in domestic raw herbal materials and related products from 2000 to 2018. Aspects of mycotoxin contamination of CHMs covered in this review include common mycotoxin contaminants in CHMs, maximum mycotoxin residue limits, analytical methods for mycotoxin detection and their applications and limitations, as well as a brief discussion of the trends in ongoing research.