Primary research on sampling scheme for analyzing mycotoxin distribution in wheat and rice fields

Abstract

BACKGROUND Mycotoxins are among the most severe food contaminants. Deoxynivalenol and aflatoxin contamination are predominant in wheat and rice, respectively. Nowadays, there are no standardized and approved grain‐sampling schemes worldwide. This study aimed to develop a scientific grain‐sampling scheme to investigate the regularity of mycotoxin distributed in wheat and rice fields. The data were analyzed with analysis of variance and cluster analysis to select a better sampling scheme. RESULTS Considering the influences of the weather before harvest (temperature, humidity, wind direction, and other conditions), we sampled grains from different places in different farmlands and detected the mycotoxin content of the sampled grains. The mycotoxin content had extremely significant differences in the area of rice fields (P<0.01) and significant differences in the area of wheat fields (P<0.05). The filtering effect existed peripheral the field areas, especially peripheral the humid areas, where the fungi were filtered and the toxin were easily produced. Furthermore, the upwind direction peripheral the field areas cause more filterature effect than other wind direction. Although 97% of mycotoxins in wheat can be removed through the shelling process, the toxin content were not obviously affected by rice lodging in the field. According to the cluster analysis, the peripheral and middle areas were divided into the same group with higher mycotoxin content. CONCLUSION This paper developed a sampling scheme to detect the mycotoxin content of wheat and rice in the field, considering the temperature and humidity of the weather, locations, and other grain contamination conditions before harvest. Meanwhile, the sampling rule of lodging and wind direction in the field was also assayed. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry

Developments in mycotoxin analysis: an update for 2020-2021

“…Research on sampling and sample processing published over the past year include characterisation of mycotoxin distributions among maize kernels (Chavez et al, 2022) and within fields (Yi et al, 2021), an enhanced analysis of existing data sets on mycotoxin spatial distribution in bulk volumes (Kerry et al, 2021), and descriptions of sampling techniques for blood (Vidal et al, 2021), grain dust (Limay-Rios and Schaafsma, 2021), and for pooling samples for mycotoxin screening (Cheng et al, 2020). A very welcome retrospective analysis was also published on the disappointing decrease in researchers' consideration of proper sampling and processing of maize (Kumphanda et al, 2021).…”

“…The lack of apparent bias is most likely reflecting very high kernelto-kernel differences, that overshadowed any effect from kernel selection bias. Yi et al (2021) sampled two fields of wheat and rice and performed a spatial analysis of deoxynivalenol (DON) and aflatoxins, respectively. The fields were segmented into three sections (middle, peripheral, and 'other' -the span between the middle and the periphery of the fields).…”

Study on sampling scheme for detecting mycotoxin during wheat storage

“…21 The samples were processed and detected for mycotoxin using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit (Jiangsu SUWEI Microbiology Research Co. Ltd, China, Wuxi.). 12 Each sample selection was performed in triplicate.…”

“…Rational sample selection is the first step to detecting mycotoxin content in grains and food. Scientific and reasonable selection of samples can accurately reflect the contamination degree of food and its products 12 . However, few studies have been reported considering how to sample grains from a granary and precisely detect mycotoxin in the samples.…”

“…Scientific and reasonable selection of samples can accurately reflect the contamination degree of food and its products. 12 However, few studies have been reported considering how to sample grains from a granary and precisely detect mycotoxin in the samples. Dickens and Whitaker 13 reported the odds of error generation in the process of mycotoxin analysis and detection.…”