Mycobiota and Mycotoxins Associated with Wheat Grains and some of its Products in Upper Egypt

Abstract

Mycobiota and mycotoxins associated with wheat grains and some of its products intended for human consumption in Upper Egypt, such as wheat flour, kishk, shamsy bread, Burghol and biscuits have been investigated. The obtained results indicated that all the studied products showed various levels of fungal contamination specially wheat flour, which was highly contaminated, followed by wheat burghol. Many species belonging to several genera of fungi were isolated from all the studied products. Aspergillus was the most predominant genus followed by Penicillium. Aflatoxin B 1 detected in 40% of burghol samples and 20% of wheat grains and kishk samples. Sterigmatocystin detected in 40 % of wheat grain samples, meanwhile zearalinone occurred in 20% of wheat flour samples.