Table 2.
Co-occurrence of mycotoxins in unprocessed cereal grains.
| Country/Region | Mycotoxins Identified | Above EU Limits (%) | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| Africa (corn, n = 20) | 86% of maize and peanut samples contained four mycotoxins including AFB1, FB1, ZEA and OTA. | AFB1: 30% of positive samples (>4 µg/kg) | [63] |
| USA (corn, n = 1828) | 7.6% of samples contain AFs (mean concentration 15.2 ppb), 75.7% contain DON (1.6%: >5000 ppb), and 59.7% have FB (10,000 ppb), 43% contain OTA (4.9 ppb), and 3.4% contain ZEA. | AFs: mean = 15.2 µg/kg, Max = 606 µg/kg DON: 1.6% FB: 59.7% ZEA: 25% |
[64] |
| USA (maize samples, n = 90) | Maize samples collected from 10 locations in Michigan state for 2 years. Every sample was contaminated with at least four and six mycotoxins in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Incidence and severity of each mycotoxin varied by year and across locations. | DON: 1.6% of samples exceeded 5000 µg/kg FUMs: 9.6% of grains exceeded 10,000 µg/kg |
[65] |
| Brazil (n = 230, processed rice) | Total of 55.1% of samples contain more than 1 mycotoxin. 17% had AFs and ZEA, 24.2% had AFs and OTA, 6.2% had AFs and citreoviridin (CTV), 4.6% had OTA and CTV, and 3.1% had ZON and CTV, respectively. | AFs: 10–20 µg/kg in 4%, >20 to 30 µg/kg in 2%, and >30.00 µg/kg in 3%. | [66] |
| Canada (corn, n = 750) | Aflatoxin in 1.1% of samples (4.4 ppb), DON in 41% of samples (282 ppb), FB in 14% (280 ppb), OTA in 2.7% (34 ppb) and ZEA in 4.5%. | N/A | [67] |
| China (corn n = 520) | 93% contains FBs (mean 2528 ppb). 1.0%, 2.7%, 14%, 22%, 44% and 6.0% of the samples were detected with 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2 kinds of mycotoxins, respectively. | N/A | [68,69] |
| China (72 barley samples and 83 wheat samples) | 40 barley (56%) and 35 wheat (42%) samples were mycotoxin positive. Among the positive samples, at least two mycotoxins were detected in 70% of barley samples and 54% of wheat samples. | DON: 6% barley and 6% wheat samples T-2 toxin: 7% barley and 5% wheat samples |
[70] |
| China (338 unprocessed wheat samples) | 40 (11.8%), 77 (22.8%), 49 (14.5%) and 41 (12.1%) samples were contaminated with two, three, four and five mycotoxins, respectively. The rate of co-occurrence of fumonisins with other Fusarium toxins was 37.6%. | DON: 44.7–52.4% ZEA: 13.9 AFB1: 0.6–2.1% |
[71] |
| Lebanon (durum wheat from two warehouses, n = 300) | 23.3–25.3% of samples had AFB1 levels >2 μg/kg, respectively. 52.0% and 44.6% of samples had OTA levels of 0.51–9.71 μg/kg, respectively. | AFB1: 23.3–25.3% (>2 µg/kg) OTA: 25.33–28.67% (>3 µg/kg) |
[72] |
| Korea (brown rice, millet, sorghum, maize and mixed cereal, n = 5) | FUMs, DON, nivalenol and ZEA were more frequently and simultaneously detected in all cereal grains, and 54% of wheat samples had at least two mycotoxins. AFB1 was detected in 1% (brown rice)–9% (millet) of each grain group with mean levels 1.1–5.2 ng/g. | AFB1: 4% (>10 µg/kg) | [73] |
| Nigeria (rice, n = 21) | AFs in all samples at 28–372 μg/kg. OTA, ZEA, DON, FB1 and FB2 in 66.7, 53.4, 23.8, 14.3 and 4.8% of the samples. Co-occurrence of AFs, OTA and ZEA was very common, and up to five mycotoxins were detected in one sample. | AFB1: 100% (28–372 µg/kg) OTA: 66.7% (134–341 μg/kg) |
[74] |
| India (n = 150, maize) | 150 freshly harvested maize samples during 2010–2011 and 2011–2012. 28, 20, 58, 23 and 11 were positive for AFB1, OTA FB1, DON and T-2 toxin, respectively. | AFB1: 18.7% (48–58 µg/kg) | [75] |
| Pakistan (rice, n = 208) | 35% of samples were AFs positive and 19% were OTA positive, respectively. | AFB1: 19% of positive Total AFs: 24% positive OTA: 14% |
[76] |
| Pakistan (corn, n = 7) | 100% of samples were AFs positive and a higher level of AFG1 in all maize varieties. OTA was detected in 71% of maize samples at 2.14–214 μg/kg. | Total AFs: 100% (>20 μg/kg) OTA: 52.2% (>5 μg/kg) |
[77] |
| Africa (corn, n = 444) | AFs and FUM co-contamination occurred in 35% of the samples. | AFs: 31.7% FUMs: 1.3% DON: 8.9% ZEA: 3.8% OTA: 4.2% |
[78] |
| Ghana (maize, n = 180) | 72.2% of samples were AFT positive with a total AFT 4.27–441.02 µg/kg, in the order of AFB1 > AFB2 > AFG1 > AFG2, 57.2% of samples were OTA positive: 4.00–97.51 µg/kg. | AFs: 70.50% > EU limits, 64.44% > Ghana limits OTA: 54.1% > EU limit, 49.9% > Ghana limit |
[79] |
| Kenya (maize, n = 350) | 55% of 350 maize samples collected following the 2004 aflatoxicosis had AFs at levels higher than 20 µg/kg. 35% had levels > 100 ppb. | AFs: 55% (>20 µg/kg) | [80] |
| Kenya (maize, n = 350) | AFB1 and FUM were found in 80 and 85% of the samples, respectively. AFB1 in 25% and FUM in 48% of samples exceeded EU limits. | AFB1: 25% (>5 μg/kg) FUMs: 48% (>2 mg/kg) |
[81] |
| Kenya (milled rice, n = 204) | Sterigmatocystin aflatoxin, citrinin, OTA, fumonisin, diacetoxyscirpenol, HT2, T2 and DON were identified. 3.5% of samples had six toxins in different combinations. | AFs: 13.5%, OTA: 6%; HT2 + T2: 0.5% |
[82] |
| Uganda (n = 105, different grains) | AFs and OTA were detected in 8.3–100% of samples, and co-occurrence of AFs, OTA and DON ranged from 8.3–35.3%, with the highest incidence in sorghum. | N/A | [83] |
N/A: represents data not available.