The occurrence of aflatoxin (aflatoxin B1, aflatoxin B2, aflatoxin G1 (AFG1) and aflatoxin G2 (AFG2)) and heavy metal (Pb, Cd, As and Hg) contamination was determined in 40 industrially produced animal feed samples which were collected from the southwest of Iran. The results indicated that 75% of samples were contaminated by four aflatoxins and the level of AFB1 and sum of aflatoxins were higher than the permissible maximum levels in Iran (5 and 20 µg kg(-1), respectively) in all feed samples. A positive correlation was found between four types of aflatoxins in all the tested samples (p < 0.01) and the positive correlation between AFG1 and AFG2 was significant (r(2) = 0.708). All feed samples had lead concentrations lower than the maximum EU limit, while 5%, 17% and 42.5% of feed samples had As, Cd and Hg concentrations higher than the maximum limits, respectively.

Background Wheat grains are susceptible to infection by various toxigenic fungal species that produce toxic metabolites called mycotoxins. This makes wheat one of the most important daily dietary sources of mycotoxins for consumers. As germination is popularly used to improve the nutritional quality of grains, the present study was carried out to understand its effect on the toxin content of wheat seeds. For this purpose, wheat grains were spiked with ochratoxin A (OTA; 5 μg kg−1), aflatoxins B2 and G2 (5 μg kg−1), zearalenone (ZEA; 20 μg kg−1), aflatoxins B1 and G1 (20 μg kg−1) and deoxynivalenol (DON; 50 μg kg−1) in separate experiments. Thereafter, the grains were germinated and analyzed for toxin content during 14 days of germination using a high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. Results ZEA content did not change significantly until 14 days. The maximum reductions of DON, OTA and aflatoxins at days 10–14 of germination were 39, 38, 41 (B1), 60 (B2), 33 (G1) and 62% (G2) respectively. A 63% reduction of phytic acid at 14 days was observed, according to Fe2+ bioavailability. For all toxins (except ZEA), there were no significant differences in reduction after day 10. Conclusion Germination for 10 days might be sufficient to achieve an appropriate decrease in toxin content. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry

No abstract