Table 3.
Occurrence of mycotoxins in cereal-based processed foods.
| Country or Region | Type of Foods | Sample Number | Mycotoxins Detected |
Concentration Range (μg/kg) | >EU Limits (%) | Method of Detection | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | Cereal-based infant foods | 627 | OTA positive in 41% of samples, 114 exceeded Canadian regulation | Up to 4.85 with a mean of 0.59 μg/L | 23% | LC-MS | [86] |
| USA | Infant cereals | 155 | OTA positive: 47 (30%) of 155 infant cereals | 0.6–22.1 | 100% of the positive samples | LC-MS/MS | [87] |
| USA | Breakfast cereals | 489 | OTA in 205 samples (42%) | 0.1–9.3 | 3.3% | HPLC-FLD | [88] |
| Spain | Corn-based foods | 25 | The incidence of DON, ZEA ZOL and T-2 was 68, 44, 24% and 0.4%, respectively | DON: 29–195 ZEA: 34–216 ZOL: 36–71 T-2: <50 |
N/A | GC-FID and HPLC | [89] |
| Spain | Infant foods | 60 | Aflatoxins in 12 samples (20%) | N/A | 10% | HPLC-FLD | [90] |
| China | Infant foods in the market | 820 | Low levels of 12 mycotoxins in the following order: DON (55.7%) > ZEA (8.2%) > FB1 (3.7%) > OTA (1.1%) > FB2 (0.7%) | AFs: not detected ZEA: 0.2–8.8 DON: 1.1–912.3 FB1: 242.3 FB2: 252.4 OTA: 0.2–3.0 |
FBs: 0.87% | LC-MS/MS | [91] |
| Portugal | Breakfast cereals | 26 | 96% of samples containing multiple mycotoxins including AFs, OTA, FUMs, DON, ZEA | AFB1: 0–0.13 OTA: 0–0.1 FB1 + FB2: 0–84 DON: 59–207.8 ZEA: 0.4–5.6 |
0% | UPLC-FLD GC-MS UPLC-MS/MS |
[92] |
| Spain | Breakfast cereals | 72 | AFs in 1 sample | Total AFs: 0.5 | 0% | HPLC-FLD | [93] |
| Spain | Corn snacks | 72 | AFs in 1 sample | 0.8 | 0% | HPLC-FLD | [93] |
| Romania | Wheat-based foods: flour, bread, pasta and biscuit (n = 181) | 181 | DON and 15Ac-DON were detected in 63% (114) and 5% (9) of all samples | DON: 1.9–1947 15 Ac-DON: 14.2–32.6 |
DON: 5% | GC-QqQ-MS/MS | [94] |
| Brazil | Maize snacks | 18 | FUM: 100% DON: 8% ZEA: 8% |
FUMs: 2.9–303.5 DON: 0–40.4 ZEA: 0–54 |
N/A | LC/MS/MS | [95] |
| Breakfast cereals | 10 | FUMs: 100% DON: 10% |
FUMs: 2.7–551.8 DON: 0–120.8 |
||||
| Wheat pasta | 30 | FUM: 13.3% DON: 100% ZEA: 73.3% |
FUMs: 0–130 DON: 83.9–860.8 ZEA: 0–205.6 |
||||
| Crackers | 14 | DON: 100% ZEA: 100% |
DON: 139–916 ZEA: 26.9–117.6 |
||||
| Tanzania | Maize-based flour used for feeding children | 41 | AFs: 32% DON: 44% Fumonisins: 83% |
Total AFs: 0.11–386 DON: 57–825 Fumonisins: 63–2284 |
N/A | validated HPLC-FLD | [96] |
| Ghana | Infants and young children’s foods derived from cereal | 35 | 71% of samples contained AFB1 | AFB1: 0.18 ± 0.01 to 36.10 ± 0.32 | 71% (>0.1 μg/kg) | HPLC-FLD | [97] |
| Ghana | Rice brands | 27 | Aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 | AFB1: 65.77–ND AFB2: 19.27–0.01 AFG1: 1.05–ND AFG2: 0.12–ND |
29.6% (>10 µg/kg) | HPLC-FLD | [97] |
| Ghana | Cereal-based food brands | 20 | AFB1, B2, G1 and G2 | AFB1: 35.46–0.96 AFB2: 4.92–0.51 AFG1: 6.95–0.27 AFG2: 0.82–0.1 |
33% (>4 µg/kg) | HPLC-FLD | [98] |
| Ghana | Pasta brands | 6 | AFB1 and B2 | AFB1: 0.930–0.935 AFB2: 0.85–0.853 |
0% | HPLC-FLD | [98] |
| Iran | Baby food | 40 | Aflatoxins B1, B2 and G2 in 20% to 60% of samples | AFB1: 0.04–0.84 AFB2: 0.01–0.08 AFG2: 0.007–008 |
AFB1: 30% | HPLC-FLD | [99] |
| Iran | Rice-based baby food | 30 | AFB1 was detected in 68.7% (33/48) of samples | AFB1: 0–15.15 | 39.6% | HPLC-FLD | [100] |
| Morocco | Pasta | 106 | ZEA, DON, HT-2 and T-2 toxins were present in 51.8%, 43.5%, 34.9% and 16% of samples, AFB1 in 2 samples | AFB1: 0–0.25 ZEA: 0.5–3.0 DON: 16–900 HT-2: 4–419 T-2: 4–50 |
DON: 21% | LC/MS/MS | [101] |
| South Africa |
Corn-based opaque beers | 32 | 94% of samples had 2–5 mycotoxins AFB1: 6%, FB1: 53%, FB2: 32%, FB3: 6%, DON: 84% |
AFB1: 5.8–7.0 Total FBs: 36–182 DON: up to 72 |
AFB1: 6% | LC-MS | [102] |
| Namibian | Sorghum malt omalodu | 45 | AFB1, AFB2 and AFG1 in 14%, 5% and 3% of otombo malts. FB1, FB2 and FB3, in 42%, 22% and 3% of otombo malts, respectively | AFB1: 0.61–28.3 AFB2: 0.14–2.35 AFG1: 0.39–6.95 FB1: 12–500.2 FB2: 7.55–79.46 FB3: 21.6–136.6 |
AFB1: 20% (>5 µg/kg) | LC/MS/MS | [102] |
| Namibian | Sorghum malt otombo | 36 | Aflatoxin B1, B2 and G1 in 14%, 5% and 3% of otombo malts Fumonisin B1, B2 and B3 in 42%, 22% and 3% of otombo malts, respectively |
AFB1: 0.56–54.2 AFB2: 0.5–4.48 AFG1: 0.4 FB1: 8.17–88.3 FB2: 5.92–46.8 FB3: 22 |
AFB1: 40% (>5 µg/kg) | LC/MS/MS | [103] |
| Pakistan | Processed foods | 125 | 38% of 125 samples were contaminated with four types of aflatoxins | AFB1: 0.02–1.24 AFB2: 0.02–0.37 AFG1: 0.25–2.7 AFG2: 0.21–1.3 | HPLC-FLD | [104] | |
| Pakistan | Breakfast cereal | 237 | 41%: AFs OTA: 48% ZEA: 53% |
AFB1: LOD ‡—6.90 Total AFs: LOD—7.45 OTA: LOD—8.45 ZEA: LOD—118.10 |
AFB1: 16% Total AFs: 8% OTA: 30% ZEA: 8% |
HPLC-FLD | [105] |
| Pakistan | Wheat products Spaghetti Noodles Macaroni Lasagne Bucatini |
25 34 29 37 22 |
36, 24, 34, 24 and 36% of spaghetti, noodles, macaroni, lasagne and bucatini were AFs positive, and 28, 18, 34, 32 and 50% were ZEA positive, respectively | AFs: LOD—55.6 ZEA: LOD—69.8 |
AFs: 18–28% ZEA: 15–36% |
HPLC-FLD | [106] |
‡ LOD—limit of detection.