Multiple mycotoxins were tested in milled rice samples (n = 200) from traders at different milling points within the Mwea Irrigation Scheme in Kenya. Traders provided the names of the cultivar, village where paddy was cultivated, sampling locality, miller, and month of paddy harvest between 2018 and 2019. Aflatoxin, citrinin, fumonisin, ochratoxin A, diacetoxyscirpenol, T2, HT2, and sterigmatocystin were analyzed using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). Deoxynivalenol was tested using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Mycotoxins occurred in ranges and frequencies in the following order: sterigmatocystin (0-7 ppb; 74.5%), aflatoxin (0-993 ppb; 55.5%), citrinin (0-9 ppb; 55.5%), ochratoxin A (0-110 ppb; 30%), fumonisin (0-76 ppb; 26%), diacetoxyscirpenol (0-24 ppb; 20.5%), and combined HT2 + T2 (0-62 ppb; 14.5%), and deoxynivalenol was detected in only one sample at 510 ppb. Overall, low amounts of toxins were observed in rice with a low frequency of samples above the regulatory limits for aflatoxin, 13.5%; ochratoxin A, 6%; and HT2 + T2, 0.5%. The maximum co-contamination was for 3.5% samples with six toxins in different combinations. The rice cultivar, paddy environment, time of harvest, and millers influenced the occurrence of different mycotoxins. There is a need to establish integrated approaches for the mitigation of mycotoxin accumulation in the Kenyan rice.
Keywords: co-contamination; food safety; multiple mycotoxins; rice; sub-Saharan Africa.