The stability of naturally occurring DON was evaluated during the fermentation stage of the bread-making process on a pilot scale. Two different products, French bread and Vienna bread, were prepared with naturally contaminated wheat flour (150 mg kg(-1)) under controlled experimental conditions. Dough was fermented at 30, 40 and 50 degrees C according to standard procedures employed in Argentinean low-technology bakeries. When the dough was fermented at 50 degrees C, the maximum reduction was 56% for the Vienna bread, with French bread being reduced by 41%. DON reduction during bread-making occurs not only in the baker due to thermal decomposition, but also during the fermentation step. The Argentinean traditional bread-making process might reduce DON levels during the fermentation stages if the dough is leavened at temperatures > 30 degrees C.

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The animals were on a pasture of native grasses and supplemented ad libitum with corn kernels and wheat bran. Three horses were observed having acute neurologic signs including blindness, four leg ataxia, hyperexcitability, aimless walking and circling, followed by death in two of them. Four other horses were found dead overnight without a history of neurologic signs. The morbidity, mortality and lethality rates were 11.6%, 10% and 85.7%, respectively. Grossly, the brain showed focal areas of hemorrhage, brown-yellow discoloration and softening of the sub-cortical white matter. The microscopic brain lesions consisted of extensive areas of malacia within the white matter of the cerebral hemispheres, brainstem and cerebellum, characterized by rarefaction of the white matter with cavitations filled with proteinaceous edema, multifocal hemorrhages and mild infiltration by neutrophils, and rare eosinophils. Swollen glial cells with abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm, distinct cell borders, intracytoplasmic deeply eosinophilic globules and eccentric, hyperchromatic, occasionally pyknotic nucleus were present throughout the areas of rarefaction hemorrhage, edema and necrosis. The feed supplements contained 12,490μg/kg of fumonisin B1 and 5,251μg/ kg of fumonisin B2. This is the first reported outbreak of ELEM associated with consumption of feed supplements containing high concentrations of fumonisins in Argentina.

Corn samples and different dry-milled fractions collected from an industrial mill in Argentina were analysed. Average contaminations were FB(1) 1540 microg kg(-1), FB(2) 716 microg kg(-1) and FB(3) 152 microg kg(-1) in whole corn; FB(1) 135 microg kg(-1), FB(2) 39.1 microg kg(-1) and FB(3) 10.2 microg kg(-1) in corn grits; FB(1) 358 microg kg(-1), FB(2) 122 microg kg(-1) and FB(3) 45.9 microg kg(-1) in 'C' flour; FB(1) 148 microg kg(-1), FB(2) 52.5 microg kg(-1) and FB(3) 28.3 microg kg(-1) in corn meal; and FB(1) 4210 microg kg(-1), FB(2) 2010 microg kg(-1) and FB(3) 447 microg kg(-1) in germ and bran together. The fumonisin contamination level was approximately three times higher in germ and bran than in whole corn, 13 times higher than in 'C' flour and 29 times higher than in corn meal and corn grits. Taking into account the distribution of fumonisins in commercial dry-milled corn fractions and corn meal consumption in Argentina, a theoretical whole corn level of 6640 microg kg(-1) maximum of total fumonisins could be processed to obtain products considered safe for human health.