Investigation of Twelve Significant Mycotoxin Contamination in Nut-Based Products by the LC–MS/MS Method

Abstract

In this study, a total of 80 peanut butter, hazelnut butter, and chocolate samples were obtained from local markets in Ankara, Turkey. These foods were analyzed for twelve toxicological important mycotoxins, such as aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), aflatoxin B2 (AFB2), aflatoxin G1 (AFG1), and aflatoxin G2 (AFG2); fumonisin B1 (FB1) and fumonisin B2 (FB2); ochratoxin A (OTA); sterigmatocystin (STE); deoxynivalenol (DON); zearalenone (ZON); T-2 toxin (T2); and HT-2 toxin (HT2) by the LC–MS/MS multi-mycotoxin method. In addition to this analysis, the presence of total aerobic mesophilic bacteria was investigated in the samples. The samples were analyzed microbiologically using standard procedures. Finally, the minimum and maximum levels of AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, FB2, OTA, STE, DON, ZON, T2, and HT2 in the samples were found to be 0.04–27.37 µg/kg, 0.06–6.19 µg/kg, 0.14–0.40 µg/kg, 2.73–2.93 µg/kg, 0.01–37.26 µg/kg, 0.19–2.25 µg/kg, 11.81–42.09 µg/kg, 0.03–7.57 µg/kg, 1.41–2.54 µg/kg, and 6.94–7.43 µg/kg, respectively. AFG2 and FB1 were not detected in any of the samples. The most frequently detected mycotoxins in analyzed samples were OTA (78.75%) and AFB1 (75%). In addition, total aerobic mesophilic bacteria were isolated from 53.75% of samples. Some of the tested food samples contained mycotoxins above the Turkish Food Codex maximum limit.

Mycotoxin Contamination in Hazelnut: Current Status, Analytical Strategies, and Future Prospects

“…As an example, a study by Imperato et al [9] revealed a high rate of contamination for hazelnuts and foods containing hazelnuts, imported in Italy from Turkey. Demirhan et al [28] investigated the mycotoxin contamination of nut-based products (e.g., hazelnut butter and chocolate), obtained from local markets in Ankara (Turkey), observing that most samples were contaminated by AFB1 and other mycotoxins. Sterigmatocystin (STE) and its 3-O-methyl derivative (OMSTE) have been also identified in hazelnuts [12].…”

“…Besides structural similarities, STE shares with AFB1 hepatotoxic and nephrotoxic effects, inducing IARC to classify them as a possible human carcinogen (group 2B) [32]. As can be inferred from the existing literature, ochratoxin A (OTA) seems to be greatly diffused in hazelnuts [10,12,22,33], and as a contaminant of hazelnut-based food [28]. Moreover, the presence in hazelnuts of the dechloro analog of OTA, namely ochratoxin B (OTB), has been also reported [12,16].…”

Development and Validation of an Automated Magneto-Controlled Pretreatment for Chromatography-Free Detection of Aflatoxin B1 in Cereals and Oils through Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy

“…Currently, conventional analytical approaches used for AFB 1 monitoring in food include advanced instrumental analysis and fast detection techniques. Instrumental analysis methods mainly rely on chromatography-based techniques, such as high-performance liquid chromatography [ 11 , 12 , 13 ] and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) [ 14 , 15 , 16 ], because of their high selectivity, excellent accuracy, and reproducibility. However, these analytical procedures have several limitations.…”

Target-responsive aptamer-cross-linked hydrogel sensors for the visual quantitative detection of aflatoxin B1 using exonuclease I-Triggered target cyclic amplification

“…At present, the market products available for the detection of aflatoxin focus mainly on chromatography-based ( Er Demirhan and Demirhan, 2022 , Wu et al, 2021 , Sarwat et al, 2022 , Xuan et al, 2019 ) and immunoassay-based ( Li et al, 2021 , Yan et al, 2022 , Wang et al, 2021 ) solutions( Li et al, 2021 , Wang et al, 2021 , Yan et al, 2022 ). Although chromatography is highly sensitive and exhibits a good reproducibility, its detection cost is high, it requires large-scale instruments and professional operators, and the sample pretreatment process is relatively complicated ( Lerdsri et al, 2021 , Xiang et al, 2021 ).…”