First study on trichothecene and zearalenone exposure of the Romanian population through wheat-based products consumption

Abstract

In this study, a dietary exposure assessment of mycotoxins was conducted for the Romanian population using the contamination data of a various categories of wheat-based products for direct human consumption. Wheat-based foods (n = 181) commercialized in Romania, including flour, bread, biscuits, breakfast cereals and pasta, were evaluated by GC-QqQ-MS/MS for the occurrence of deoxynivalenol (DON), 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol (3AcDON), 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol (15AcDON), fusarenon-X, nivalenol, HT-2 and T-2 toxins, diacetoxyscirpenol, neosolaniol and zearalenone (ZEA). DON and 15AcDON were detected in 63 and 5% of all the analyzed samples, whereas 13-AcDON, HT-2, T-2, NIV and ZEA were not detected. Exposure of Romanian adult population was assessed, the EDIs for the sum of DON+3AcDON+15AcDON were 669 ng kg^-1 bw day^-1 at low-bound estimation, and 690 ng kg^-1 bw day^-1 at upper-bound estimation, being lower than the TDI set (1000 ng kg^-1 bw day^-1).

Keywords: 15-Acetyldeoxynivalenol (PubChem CID: 3034750); 3-Acetyldeoxynivalenol (PubChem CID: 5458510); Deoxynivalenol (PubChem CID: 40024); Diacetoxyscirpenol (PubChem CID: 91518); Estimated daily intake; Fusarenon-X (PubChem CID: 304599); Fusarium; HT-2 toxin (PubChem CID: 10093830); Mycotoxins; Neosolaniol (PubChem CID: 13818797); Nivalenol (PubChem CID: 430146); Risk assessment; Romania; T-2 toxin (PubChem CID: 442400); Zearalenone (PubChem CID: 5281576).