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Determination of Ochratoxin A (OTA), Ochratoxin B (OTB), T-2, and HT-2 Toxins in Wheat Grains, Wheat Flour, and Bread in Lebanon by LC-MS/MS

Cereals are prone to fungal infection during growth, harvesting, transportation, and/or storage. As a result, cereals such as wheat grains and wheat-derived products may be contaminated with mycotoxins leading to acute and chronic health exposure. The current study investigated the presence of the m...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Elaridi, Jomana, Yamani, Osama, Al Matari, Amira, Dakroub, Saada, Attieh, Zouhair
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6723938/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31409003
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins11080471
Descripción
Sumario:Cereals are prone to fungal infection during growth, harvesting, transportation, and/or storage. As a result, cereals such as wheat grains and wheat-derived products may be contaminated with mycotoxins leading to acute and chronic health exposure. The current study investigated the presence of the mycotoxins: ochratoxin A (OTA), ochratoxin B (OTB), T-2, and HT-2 toxins in samples of wheat grains (n = 50), wheat flour (n = 50), and bread (n = 37) from the main mills in Lebanon using LC-MS/MS. Accuracy ranged from 98–100%, recoveries from 93–105%, and intraday and interday precision were 5–7% and 9–12%, respectively. The tested wheat grains, wheat flour, and bread samples did not contain detectable levels of T-2 and HT-2 toxins and OTB. Four wheat flour samples (8% of flour samples) showed positive OTA levels ranging from 0.6–3.4 μg·kg(−1) with an arithmetic mean of 1.9 ± 0.2 μg·kg(−1). Only one sample contained an OTA concentration greater than the limit set by the European Union (3 μg·kg(−1)) for wheat-derived products. This study suggests that mycotoxin contamination of wheat grains, wheat flour, and bread in Lebanon is currently not a serious public health concern. However, surveillance strategies and monitoring programs must be routinely implemented to ensure minimal mycotoxin contamination of wheat-based products.