Because of global warming and changes in farming systems, Fusarium head blight has gradually spread towards high-latitude regions such as Northwestern China. A survey was conducted to assess the prevalence and concentration of deoxynivalenol (DON) in wheat harvested during 2013 from the Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, and Xinjiang provinces in China. DON concentration in 181 wheat samples was analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography combined with ultraviolet detection. Of the wheat samples, 82.9% were contaminated with DON, with a mean DON concentration of 500 μg/kg. According to the Chinese standard limits for DON, 10% of the positive samples were above the maximum limit of 1000 μg/kg. Regions with higher humidity showed higher levels of DON in the wheat samples. These results show the necessity of raising awareness of DON contamination in people from Northwestern China to protect their health from the risk of exposure to DON.
Keywords: China; Deoxynivalenol; HPLC; wheat.