Fusarium mycotoxin content of UK organic and conventional oats

Simon G Edwards (1)

1 Harper Adams University

Each year (2002-2005), approximately one hundred samples of oats from fields of known agronomy were analysed for ten trichothecenes by GC/MS including deoxynivalenol (DON), nivalenol, 3-acetylDON, 15-acetylDON, fusarenone X, T-2 toxin (T2), HT-2 toxin (HT2), diacetoxyscirpenol, neosolaniol and T-2 triol. Samples were also analysed for moniliformin and zearalenone by HPLC. Of the ten trichothecenes analysed from 458 harvest samples of oat only three, 15-acetylDON, fusarenone X and diacetoxyscirpenol were not detected. Moniliformin and zearalenone were absent or rarely detected, respectively. HT2 and T2 were the most frequently detected fusarium mycotoxins, present above the limit of quantification (10 μg kg-1) in 92 and 84% of samples respectively, and were usually present at the highest concentrations. The combined mean and median for HT2 and T2 (HT2+T2) was 570 and 213 μg kg-1. There were good correlations between concentrations of HT2 and all other type A trichothecenes detected (T2, T2 triol and neosolaniol). Year and region had a significant effect on HT2+T2 concentration. There was also a highly significant difference between HT2+T2 content in organic and conventional samples with the predicted mean for organic samples five times lower than that of conventional samples. This is the largest difference reported for any mycotoxin content of organic and conventional cereals. No samples exceeded the legal limits for DON and zearalenone for oats intended for human consumption. Legislative limits for HT2 and T2 are currently under consideration by the European Commission. The levels detected in oats could have a serious consequence for the UK oat processing industry dependent on the limits set for unprocessed oats intended for human consumption.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Simon G Edwards. Fusarium mycotoxin content of UK organic and conventional oats. Food Additives and Contaminants, 2009, 26 (07), pp.1063-1069. ⟨10.1080/02652030902788953⟩. ⟨hal-00573877⟩