Multiple Mycotoxins in Rice: Occurrence and Health Risk Assessment in Children and Adults of Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

Mycotoxin contamination in rice can create a health risk for the consumers. In this study, the measurement of 23 mycotoxins in rice samples (n = 180) was performed using a validated LC–MS/MS method. A food frequency questionnaire was used to get rice consumption data for the assessment of mycotoxin dietary exposure, before calculating the health risk in adults and children of north and south regions of the Pakistani Punjab province. The prevalence of aflatoxin B1 (56%), aflatoxin B2 (48%), nivalenol (28%), diacetoxyscirpenol (23%), fumonisin B1 (42%), zearalenone (15%), HT-2 toxin (10%), deoxynivalenol (8%), and ochratoxin A (6%) was estimated in samples with a mean concentration range between 0.61 and 22.98 µg/kg. Aflatoxin degradation by traditional Pakistani cooking recipes was evaluated and observed to be 41–63%. The dietary exposure to aflatoxins exceeded the tolerable daily intake at all levels, and ochratoxin A and zearalenone posed health risk at high contamination and high consumption levels. The margin of aflatoxin B1 exposure ranged between 10 and 69 in adults and 10 and 62 in children. The mean cancer risk by aflatoxin B1 exposure was 0.070 (adults) and 0.071 (children) cases/year/100,000 people in South Punjab population, and 0.122 (adults) and 0.127 (children) cases/year/100,000 people in North Punjab population. This study will provide new insights for the planning and management of mycotoxins in Pakistan.

Pre‐ and Postharvest Strategies to Minimize Mycotoxin Contamination in the Rice Food Chain

“…Majeed et al. () evaluated the presence of 23 mycotoxins in rice, and they detected 9 co‐occurring in rice. From 120 samples, the co‐occurrence of Aspergillus and Fusarium mycotoxins was detected in 21% of the samples.…”

“…Soleimany, Jinap, and Abas (2012) reported their co-occurrence, while the individual co-occurring mycotoxin congeners were not clearly reported. Majeed et al (2018) evaluated the presence of 23 mycotoxins in rice, and they detected 9 co-occurring in rice. From 120 samples, the co-occurrence of Aspergillus and Fusarium mycotoxins was detected in 21% of the samples.…”

Random mutagenesis of super Koji (Aspergillus oryzae): improvement in production and thermal stability of α-amylases for maltose syrup production

“…LC-MS/MS, an extremely specific and highly sensitive technique for testing food products with superior accuracy was used to detect aflatoxins in our samples. LC-MS/MS is a powerful tool for analyzing mycotoxins specifically, as it aides the laboratories to do the qualitative and quantitative analysis of multiple mycotoxins simultaneously, in less time, with greater accuracy [ 43 , 44 ]. The results confirmed there were no aflatoxins in the amylases produced by the mutant M-100(6).…”

Reduction of Aflatoxin B1 Residues in Meat and Organs of Broiler Chickens by Lactic Acid Bacteria

“…Mycotoxins particularly aflatoxins and their metabolites can be found in grainbased feeds, meat, dairy products and eggs, and considered carcinogenic for animals and human (Anonymous, 2004;Zahoor-ul-Hassan et al, 2010;Khan et al, 2013;Naseem et al, 2018a). The presence of aflatoxins in foods generally associated with many diseases so considered as an important potential health risk factor for the community (Eshelli et al, 2015;Majeed et al, 2018). Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is considered as one of the most potent toxins in animal farms particularly poultry and other monogastric animals that depends on level of AFB1 concentrations and individual exposure time (Bailey et al, 2006;Bovo et al, 2014;Naseem et al, 2018b).…”