Occurrence of fusarium mycotoxins in maize imported into the United Kingdom, 2004-7

Keith Scudamore (1) , Sue Patel (2)

1 KAS Mycotoxins
2 RHM Technology

This study examined a total of 82 consignments of raw French and Argentinean maize as received at maize mills in the UK during the period 2004-2007. Samples were examined for deoxynivalenol (DON), nivalenol (NIV), other trichothecenes, zearalenone (ZON) and fumonisins B1, B2, and B3 (FB1, FB2, and FB3) using fully validated analytical methods with limits of quantitation of 10 µg kg-1 for each fumonisin mycotoxin, DON and NIV and 3 µg kg-1 for ZON. All samples except two for fumonisins met the EC statutory maximum permissible levels for DON, ZON and FB1 + FB2 as operating in 2007. The maximum concentrations of DON, NIV, ZON and FB1 + FB2, found were 444, 496, 165 and 5002 µg kg-1 respectively. Fumonisins were detected in almost every sample with 65% of Argentinean maize containing more than 1000 µg kg-1 of FB1 + FB2. In contrast ZON was undetected in almost 50% of consignments. During this period there was a distinct difference in mycotoxin concentrations between harvests and geographic origin. Flint maize from the Argentine usually contained lower concentrations of DON and related trichothecenes and higher levels of fumonisins than that from France although concentrations of fumonisins up to 2000 µg kg-1 or greater occurred in samples from both regions. The incidence and concentrations of fumonisins were similar to those in a similar previous survey while zearalenone concentrations were lower. The distribution of mycotoxins in multi-hold ships was also investigated. The distribution of mycotoxins in multi-hold ships was also investigated and showed that fumonisins were much more evenly distributed than DON indicating their general level in the ship as a whole. The effect of cleaning regimes was found to be very variable, especially for DON, ranging from no removal of mycotoxins to >50% in some instances but was not related to concentration. Evidence here suggests that cleaning is essential for removing foreign bodies prior to milling rather than as a tool for reducing mycotoxins.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Keith Scudamore, Sue Patel. Occurrence of fusarium mycotoxins in maize imported into the United Kingdom, 2004-7. Food Additives and Contaminants, 2009, 26 (03), pp.363-371. ⟨10.1080/02652030802406219⟩. ⟨hal-00577334⟩