Contamination of Pet Food with Mycobiota and Fusarium Mycotoxins—Focus on Dogs and Cats

Abstract

A wide range of pet food types are available on the market; the dominant type is dry food formulated in croquets. One of the most common ingredients of dry food are cereals—vectors of harmful mycotoxins posing the risk to pet health. In this study, 38 cat and dog dry food samples available on the Polish market were investigated. Morphological and molecular methods were applied to identify fungal genera present in pet food. Quantification of ergosterol and Fusarium mycotoxins: Fumonisin B1, deoxynivalenol, nivalenol, and zearalenone were performed using high performance liquid chromatography. Obtained results indicated five genera of mycotoxigenic fungi: Alternaria sp., Aspergillus sp., Cladosporium sp., Penicillium sp., and Fusarium sp., including Fusarium verticillioides and Fusarium proliferatum. Ergosterol and mycotoxins of interest were detected in both cat and dog food samples in the amounts ranging from 0.31 to 4.05 µg/g for ergosterol and 0.3–30.3, 1.2–618.4, 29.6–299.0, and 12.3–53.0 ng/g for zearalenone, deoxynivalenol, nivalenol, and fumonisin B1, respectively. The conclusion is the presence of mycotoxins in levels much lower than recommended by EU regulations does not eliminate the risk and caution is advised concerning that long-term daily intake of even small doses of mycotoxins can slowly damage pet’s health.

Pre-Concentration and Analysis of Mycotoxins in Food Samples by Capillary Electrophoresis

“…They can also cause immunosuppression and hormonal disorders [ 2 , 9 ]. In addition, the few works on mycotoxins in pet food showed their high toxicity in relation to pets’ health [ 10 ].…”

Evaluation of nutritional value and microbiological safety in commercial dog food

“…Microorganisms present in cereals (bacteria belonging to the families: Pseudomonadaceae , Micrococcaceae , Lactobacillaceae , Bacillaceae , and fungi, like: Alternaria sp., Aspergillus sp., Cladosporium sp., Penicillium sp., Fusarium sp., Rhizopus sp.) can affect the safety, quality and functional properties of the grains and thus the quality of the dog food made from these cereals (Los et al 2018 ; Witaszak et al 2020 ). Thus, it can be assumed that the presence or absence of cereals in the food may affect the microbiological quality of the product.…”

“…However, it was dog food that had higher percentage of contamination than the other tested foods. In one of the most recent studies, Witaszak et al ( 2020 ) isolated mycotoxigenic fungi belonging to five genus: Alternaria (7%), Aspergillus (12%), Cladosporium (10%), Penicillium (38%) and Fusarium (33%), from 38 cat and dog dry foods available on the Polish market. The traditional use of large amounts of plant ingredients (including cereals) by pet food producers, especially in dry product formulas, has greatly increased the risk of mycotoxin poisoning in pets (Boermans and Leung 2007 ), since the mycotoxins produced by some molds could potentially pose a health risk, in particular where the various stages of the pet food production process were not able to deactivate these fungal metabolites (Bullerman and Bianchini 2007 ).…”

The Presence of Mycotoxins in Feed and Their Influence on Animal Health

“…Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites of fungi. They are commonly detected in food, feed [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ], and feed additives [ 5 ]. The presence of mycotoxins in food and feed is influenced by numerous factors, including plant species and variety, region, temperature, moisture content, insect damage, storage conditions, and agricultural practices.…”

“…An in vivo test also revealed that the presence of additional metabolites did not increase the overall toxicity. Witaszak et al [ 3 ] examined the presence of mycotoxins in dry food for dogs and cats. Their research was motivated by the fact that cereals are a major ingredient in dry food for companion animals.…”