Regulated Mycotoxin Occurrence and Co-Occurrence in Croatian Cereals

Abstract

A total of 209 samples of various cereal crops (maize, wheat, barley, rye and oats) grown in Croatian fields during 2016 and 2017 were collected to analyze and determine the occurrence and co-occurrence of EU regulated mycotoxins in cereals (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2, DON, FB1, FB2, ZEA, T-2, HT-2 and OTA). The analysis, performed by a validated confirmatory LC-MS/MS method based on a dilute and shoot principle, highlighted Fusarium mycotoxins as the main contaminants, often co-occurring in samples from both years (50.0% in 2016 and 33.7% in 2017). DON was found to be the most frequent mycotoxin, present in 72.5% of the 2016 samples and 32.6% of the 2017 samples, while maize proved to be the most contaminated cereal type of both years with FUM as the most abundant mycotoxins, with an average concentration of 1180 µg/kg. Moderate temperatures with periods of high humidity favored the accumulation of DON in wheat samples instead of other Fusarium mycotoxins, while similar conditions favored maize contamination with FUM. A total of 8.3% of all the 2016 harvest samples and 7.9% of the 2017 harvest samples were assessed as non-compliant, containing mycotoxins in concentrations higher than the levels set by the EU legislation for food.

Seasonal Occurrence of Aflatoxin M1 in Raw Milk during a Five-Year Period in Croatia: Dietary Exposure and Risk Assessment

“…According to previous studies, it can be concluded that the highest contribution to AFM 1 in milk is due to contaminated corn, which is usually represented in the amount of 20-30% in feed concentrate used in the winter months for diet of dairy cow [18,58]. This is supported by a recently published study conducted for cereal samples from the 2017 harvest, which showed that corn samples were the most contaminated (8.7%) compared with wheat, barley, rye, and oat samples [59].…”

Development and Validation of an UHPLC-MS/MS Method for the Simultaneous Determination of 11 EU-Regulated Mycotoxins in Selected Cereals

“…A total of 119 cereal samples from the 2016 harvest were analyzed during the cereal multi-contaminant investigation, revealing 8.5% of samples to be non-compliant with the relevant EU mycotoxin legislation, with Fusarium mycotoxin DON being the most frequently occurring (73.7%) [ 2 ]. In the study by Kovač et al (2022) [ 3 ] the method was used to analyze 209 cereal samples (maize, wheat, barley, oats, and rye) from 2016 and 2017 harvests from all Croatian counties, confirming the Fusarium mycotoxins as the main contaminants of Croatian cereals and revealing generally high mycotoxin co-occurrence in Croatian cereals (50.0% in 2016 and 33.7% in 2017), but also a correlation between year-to-year weather conditions and mycotoxin incidence, thus emphasizing the need for continuous mycotoxin control in a climate change-affected world.…”

“…In addition, this developed and validated UHPLC-MS/MS multi-mycotoxin method based on the dilute-and-shoot principle was successfully employed for EU-regulated mycotoxin determination in unprocessed cereal crops grown in Croatian fields, as already published by Kovač et al (2021;2022) [2,3]. A total of 119 cereal samples from the 2016 harvest were analyzed during the cereal multi-contaminant investigation, revealing 8.5% of samples to be non-compliant with the relevant EU mycotoxin legislation, with Fusarium mycotoxin DON being the most frequently occurring (73.7%) [2].…”

“…Geographical distribution and (co-)occurrence of mycotoxins, toxic contaminants of fungal origin, in certain foodstuff and feedstuff is greatly influenced by year-to-year varying weather conditions, together with climate change effects, e.g., extreme changes in rainfall/drought episodes [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Given their incidence and pronounced toxicological health impact, regulations setting their threshold levels within the food and feed chain are given by European Union (EU) legislation [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ].…”

“…Considering the legislative requirements for mycotoxins in food and feed safety control and the fact that a product can be contaminated with more than one mycotoxigenic fungi that is able to produce several mycotoxins at the same time [ 8 , 9 ], there is a need for multi-mycotoxin methods, capable of simultaneously determining a large number of compounds. The co-occurrence of mycotoxins in agricultural products is very common [ 2 , 3 , 10 , 11 ], and the toxicological effects of various mycotoxins, potentially additive, synergistic or antagonistic, have not yet been sufficiently investigated. Methods employing (ultra-high performance) liquid chromatography coupled to (tandem) mass spectrometry, (UHP)LC-MS/(MS), are a good choice for the unambiguous determination of a large number of chemically distinct compounds in a relatively short analysis time [ 8 , 12 , 13 ].…”