Levels of mycotoxins and sample cytotoxicity of selected organic and conventional grain‐based products purchased from Finnish and Italian markets

Abstract

The contamination levels of 16 different Fusarium- and Aspergillus-mycotoxins were chemically determined from randomly selected organic and conventional grain-based products purchased from Finnish and Italian markets. The cytotoxicity of the samples was analyzed with an in vitro test using feline fetal lung cells. Overall, the concentrations of the mycotoxins studied were low in all of the samples. Enniatins B and B1 as well as deoxynivalenol were the most predominant mycotoxins in the samples, being present in 97%, 97%, and 90% of the samples, respectively. The geographical origin or the agricultural practice had no influence on the mycotoxin concentrations of the samples. The babyfoods included in the samples had significantly lower concentrations of mycotoxins than the other products with a mean total mycotoxin content of 47 microg/kg compared with 99 microg/kg for the other kinds of food. All the samples evoked toxicity in the in vitro test, but no correlation between cytotoxicity and the mycotoxin concentrations was observed.

Fusariummycotoxin content of UK organic and conventional wheat

“…This indicated the importance of weather in late summer, as well as early summer on the final mycotoxin content of grain at harvest. Previous studies comparing organic to conventional wheat have either failed to identify significant differences between the two practices (Berleth 1998, Malmauret et al 2002, Cirillo et al 2003, Champeil et al 2004, Jestoi et al 2004 or have detected (Doll et al 2002, Schollenberger et al 2002, Schollenberger et al 2005 (Edwards, 2004). It is likely that these factors balance one another resulting in a similar concentration of DON in the two practices.…”

“…Many studies failed to identify significant differences between the two practices within Europe (Malmauret et al 2002, Cirillo et al 2003, Champeil et al 2004, Jestoi et al 2004). However, significantly lower levels of DON in organic samples was detected in some regions of Germany (Doll et al 2002, Schollenberger et al 2002, Schollenberger et al 2005) although this was not the case in northern Germany in the mid-1990s (Berleth 1998).…”

Occurrence of Fungi and Mycotoxins in Some Commercial Baby Foods in North Africa

“…Many studies on the presence and quantity of mycotoxins in food and feed products have been conducted worldwide [23][24][25] but only a few studies for the presence of mycotoxins in baby food [7,26,27]. This is in spite of the fact that cereals and dried fruits are used as ingredient in infant food in combination with milk.…”

In Vitro Metabolism of the Mycotoxin Enniatin B in Different Species and Cytochrome P450 Enzyme Phenotyping by Chemical Inhibitors

“…EnnB is considerably resistant to heat (melting point: 173-175°C) (Altomare et al, 1995), acids, and digestion and has been shown to propagate through the feed and food chain reaching 150 g/kg in a Swiss oat bran bread (Noser et al, 2007) and mean concentrations of 47 and 99 g/kg, respectively, in baby foods and grain-based food products from Finnish and Italian markets, occurring in 97% of all samples (Jestoi et al, 2004). Breakfast cereals from Tunisian and Moroccan markets contained on average 57.4 and 10.6 mg/kg EnnB (Mahnine et al, 2011;Queslati et al, 2011).…”