Fusarium mycotoxin content of UK organic and conventional barley

Simon G Edwards (1)

1 Harper Adams University

Each year (2002-2005), approximately one hundred samples of barley 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 446 harvest samples of barley only two, diacetoxyscirpenol and neosolaniol were not detected. The concentration of type A trichothecenes were similar to those that occurred in wheat over the same period whilst those of type B trichothecenes were markedly lower. Deoxynivalenol was the most frequently detected Fusarium mycotoxin, present above the limit of quantification (10 μg kg-1) in 57% of samples, and was usually present at the highest concentration. A single sample (0.2%) exceeded the legal limit for DON in unprocessed barley over the four-year period. Moniliformin and zearalenone were both rarely detected (2% of samples greater than 10 μg kg-1 for both toxins) with maximum concentrations of 45 and 44 μg kg-1 respectively. Year and region had a significant effect on DON and HT2+T2 but there was no significant difference in the concentration of these mycotoxins between organic and conventional samples. Overall, the risk of UK barley exceeding the newly introduced legal limits for Fusarium mycotoxins in cereals intended for human consumption is very low, but the percentage of samples above these limits will fluctuate between years.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Simon G Edwards. Fusarium mycotoxin content of UK organic and conventional barley. Food Additives and Contaminants, 2009, 26 (08), pp.1185-1190. ⟨10.1080/02652030902919418⟩. ⟨hal-00573881⟩