Probabilistic Risk Assessment of Combined Exposure to Deoxynivalenol and Emerging Alternaria Toxins in Cereal-Based Food Products for Infants and Young Children in China

Xiaofeng Ji; Yingping Xiao; Wentao Lyu; Minglu Li; Wen Wang; Biao Tang; Xiaodan Wang; Hua Yang

doi:10.3390/toxins14080509

Probabilistic Risk Assessment of Combined Exposure to Deoxynivalenol and Emerging Alternaria Toxins in Cereal-Based Food Products for Infants and Young Children in China

Toxins (Basel). 2022 Jul 25;14(8):509. doi: 10.3390/toxins14080509.

Authors

Xiaofeng Ji¹, Yingping Xiao¹, Wentao Lyu¹, Minglu Li², Wen Wang¹, Biao Tang¹, Xiaodan Wang², Hua Yang¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-Products, Institute of Agro-Product Safety and Nutrition, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, China.
² China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, Beijing 100022, China.

Abstract

Deoxynivalenol (DON) and emerging Alternaria toxins often co-occur in cereal-based products, but the current risk assessment is commonly conducted for only one type of mycotoxin at a time. Compared to adults, infants and young children are more susceptible to mycotoxins through food consumption, especially with cereal-based food products which are the main source of exposure. This study aimed to perform a probabilistic risk assessment of combined exposure to DON and three major Alternaria toxins, namely including alternariol monomethyl ether (AME), alternariol (AOH), and tenuazonic acid (TeA) through consumption of cereal-based foods for Chinese infants and young children. A total of 872 cereal-based food products were randomly collected and tested for the occurrence of DON and three major Alternaria toxins. The results on mycotoxin occurrence showed the DON, TeA, AOH, and AME was detected in 56.4%, 47.5%, 7.5%, and 5.7% of the samples, respectively. Co-contamination of various mycotoxins was observed in 39.9% of the analyzed samples. A preliminary cumulative risk assessment using the models of hazard index (HI) and combined margin of exposure (MoET) was performed on DON and Alternaria toxins that were present in cereal-based food products for infants and young children in China for the first time. The results showed that only 0.2% and 1.5%, respectively, of individuals exceeded the corresponding reference value for DON and TeA, indicating a low health risk. However, in the case of AME and AOH, the proportion of individuals exceeding the reference value was 24.1% and 33.5%, respectively, indicating the potential health risks. In the cumulative risk assessment of AME and AOH, both HI and MoET values indicated a more serious risk than that related to individual exposure. Further research is necessary to reduce the uncertainties that are associated with the toxicities of the Alternaria toxins and cumulative risk assessment methods.

Keywords: Alternaria toxins; combined exposure; cumulative risk assessment; deoxynivalenol.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Alternaria* / isolation & purification
Child, Preschool
China
Edible Grain* / chemistry
Edible Grain* / microbiology
Food Contamination* / analysis
Humans
Infant
Lactones / analysis
Mycotoxins / analysis
Risk Assessment
Tenuazonic Acid / analysis
Trichothecenes* / analysis

Substances

Lactones
Mycotoxins
Trichothecenes
Tenuazonic Acid
deoxynivalenol

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Program on Key Research Project of China (2019YFE0103900) as well as the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under Grant Agreement No 861917—SAFFI.