In Argentina, wheat is the most consumed cereal by the human population. Since fumonisins occurence in wheat grains and wheat-based products have been reported worldwide, a survey was conducted in order to determine fumonisin contamination in 91 wheat-based products (white wheat flour samples, wheat flour used at bakery products and whole-wheat flour samples) collected from different retail stores of Rio Cuarto city in Argentina using HPLC-MS/MS. Sixty-seven samples (74%) showed contamination by fumonisins. From these samples, 16 showed fumonisin levels between LOD and LOQ (between 0.01 to 0.05 ng/g), while fumonisins (FB1 + FB2) in quantifiable samples ranged from 0.05 ng/g to 18.9 ng/g. Although FB1 was more prevalent, FB2 was foun3d in higher levels than FB1. Overall, fumonisin prevalence was high, but concentrations were far below EU or USA limits set for maize and maize-based products.
Keywords: Argentina; Fumonisins; HPLC-MS/MS; quantitative analysis; wheat-based products.