title: Exposure estimates to Fusarium mycotoxins through cereals intake.
abstract: Mycotoxins are harmful substances produced by fungi in several commodities with a widespread presence in foodstuffs. Human exposure to mycotoxins occurs mainly by contaminated food. The quantitation of mycotoxins in cereal-based food, highly consumed by different age population, is of concern. In this survey, 159 cereal-based samples classified as wheat, maize and rice-based, have been evaluated for the occurrence of patulin, deoxynivalenol, 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol, fusarenon-X, diacetoxyscirpenol, nivalenol, neosolaniol, HT-2, T-2 and zearalenone by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Intakes were calculated for average consumers among adults, children and infants and compared with the tolerable daily intakes (TDI). Data obtained were used to estimate the potential exposure levels. 65.4% of the samples were contaminated with at least one mycotoxin and 15.7% of the analyzed samples showed co-occurrence of mycotoxin. The dietary exposure to HT-2 and T-2 toxins was estimated as 0.010 and 0.086 μg kg(-1) bw d(-1), amounting to 10% and 86% of the TDI, for adults and infants respectively. These results back up the necessity to take a vigilant attitude in order to minimize human intake of mycotoxins.
authors.affiliation: University of Valencia, Department of Food Science, Av. Vicent Andrés Estellés s/n, 46100 Burjassot, Spain.
authors.forename: Yelko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Carrasco
authors.forename: María José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.forename: Guillermina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Font
authors.forename: Houda
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Berrada
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002523:Edible Grain; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005670:Fusarium; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009183:Mycotoxins
chemical_list: D009183:Mycotoxins
keywords: Cereal-based; Exposure assessment; Infants; Mycotoxins; Population groups