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•The first paper identifying and quantifying mycotoxins and metabolites in human breastmilk.•QuEChERS–UHPLC–HRMS allowed rapid and reliable quantitative analysis.•The exposure of ...mothers and infants to mycotoxins was evidenced using human milk.
Humans can be exposed to mycotoxins through the food chain. Mycotoxins are mainly found as contaminants in food and could be subsequently excreted via biological fluids such as urine or human breast milk in native or metabolised form. Since breast milk is usually supposed as the only food for new-borns, the occurrence of mycotoxins in thirty-five human milk samples was evaluated by a newly developed method based on QuEChERS extraction and UHPLC–HRMS detection. The method described here allows the detection of target mycotoxins in order to determine the quality of this initial feeding. The method has been fully validated, with recoveries ranging from 64% to 93% and relative standard deviations (RSD, %) being lower than 20%. Using the method described, non-metabolised mycotoxins such as ZEA, NEO, NIV, ENA, ENA1, ENB, ENB1 and metabolites, such as ZEA metabolites, HT-2, DOM and T-2 triol were detected in human milk samples. Results obtained help to estimate the exposure of mothers and infants to mycotoxins. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first work describing the simultaneous detection, quantification and screening of mycotoxins and their metabolites in human mature milk.
Mycotoxin contamination of food and feed is posing a serious threat to the global food safety and public health. Biological detoxification mediated by enzymes has emerged as a promising approach, as ...they can specifically degrade mycotoxins into non-toxic ones. However, the low degradation efficiency and stability limit their further application. To optimize the enzymes for mycotoxin removal, modification strategies that combine computational design with their structural data have been developed. Accordingly, this review will comprehensively summarize the recent trends in structure-based engineering to improve the enzyme catalytic efficiency, selectivity and stability in mycotoxins detoxification, which also provides perspectives in obtaining innovative and effective biocatalysts for mycotoxins degradation.
Modern analytical techniques can determine a multitude of fungal metabolites contaminating food and feed. In addition to known mycotoxins, for which maximum levels in food are enforced, also ...currently unregulated, so-called “emerging mycotoxins” were shown to occur frequently in agricultural products. The aim of this review is to critically discuss the relevance of selected emerging mycotoxins to food and feed safety. Acute and chronic toxicity as well as occurrence data are presented for enniatins, beauvericin, moniliformin, fusaproliferin, fusaric acid, culmorin, butenolide, sterigmatocystin, emodin, mycophenolic acid, alternariol, alternariol monomethyl ether, and tenuazonic acid. By far not all of the detected compounds are toxicologically relevant at their naturally occurring levels and are therefore of little or no health concern to consumers. Still, gaps in knowledge have been identified for several compounds. These gaps should be closed by the scientific community in the coming years to allow a proper risk assessment.
This study assessed, for the first time, the mycotoxicological risks from consumption of complementary foods by infants and young children in Nigeria. Molds belonging to Aspergillus aculeatinus, A. ...flavus, A. luchuensis, A. tubingensis, A. welwitschiae and Geotrichum candidum were recovered from the complementary foods. Twenty-eight major mycotoxins and derivatives, and another 109 microbial metabolites including chloramphenicol (a bacterial metabolite), were quantified in 137 food samples by LC-MS/MS. Aflatoxins and fumonisins co-contaminated 42% of the cereal- and nut-based food samples, at mean concentrations exceeding the EU limits of 0.1 and 200 μg/kg set for processed baby foods by 300 and six times, respectively. Milk contained mainly beauvericin, chloramphenicol and zearalenone. The trichothecenes, T-2 and HT-2 toxins, were quantified only in infant formula and at levels three times above the EU indicative level of 15 μg/kg for baby food. Chronic exposure estimate to carcinogenic aflatoxin was high causing low margin of exposure (MOE). Exposures to other mycotoxins either exceeded the established reference values by several fold or revealed low MOEs, pointing to important health risks in this highly vulnerable population. The observed mycotoxin mixtures may further increase risks of adverse health outcomes of exposure; this warrants urgent advocacy and regulatory interventions.
•137 microbial metabolites including 28 mycotoxins quantified in complementary foods.•Aflatoxins and fumonisins co-contaminated 42% of the cereal-based food samples.•Mycotoxin levels in some complementary foods exceeded EU limits by several fold.•T-2 and HT-2 toxins were quantified in infant formula for the first time.•Margins of exposure were low, established reference values exceeded by 7–52 times.
•The discovery of modified mycotoxins outpaces the developments in in vitro and in vivo toxicity and toxicokinetics research.•More occurrence data are needed to calculate exposure and to assess the ...risk posed by modified mycotoxins.•Modified mycotoxins can exhibit an altered (decreased as well as increased) toxicity.•The impact of food processing, industrial as well as household techniques, may have a profound effect on modified mycotoxins.
Modified mycotoxins formed by plants, fungi and during some food processing steps may remain undetected by analytical methods, potentially causing underestimation of mycotoxin exposure and risk. Furthermore, due to altered physico-chemical characteristics of modified mycotoxins, these compounds might have different gastro-intestinal absorption compared to the unmodified forms, leading to altered modified mycotoxin plasma concentrations. Additionally, modified mycotoxins can be converted back into their corresponding unmodified forms by in vivo hydrolysis upon oral ingestion. This review aims to describe the current knowledge on the production, occurrence, toxicity and toxicokinetic properties of the modified Fusarium mycotoxins. The need for more occurrence data to correctly assess the risks associated with these modified mycotoxins is clearly indicated, including differences between commodities as well as geographical and climatological influences. Research on toxicity of these modified forms demonstrates the possibility of significant decreases as well as increases in the toxic effects of these compounds compared with those of the unmodified forms. Their toxicokinetics demonstrates that a decreased (increased) polarity of modified mycotoxins might cause enhanced (decreased) oral absorption. The possibility of in vivo hydrolysis, altered toxicity and their wide-spread occurrence makes modified mycotoxins a complex threat for which a risk assessment will require prospective multi-disciplinary efforts.
Illustration of multiplex SERS-based lateral flow immunosensor for mycotoxins.
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•A multiplex SERS-based lateral flow immunosensor was developed for the simultaneous detection of six ...mycotoxins in maize.•This assay utilized dual Raman labels and triple test lines for the multiplexing detection.•The detection limits were far below the tolerable limits of mycotoxins set by the EU, USA and China.•The detection time was less than 20 min.
A multiplex surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based lateral flow immunosensor was developed to determine six major mycotoxins in maize. Two characteristic Raman reporter molecules—5,5-dithiobis-2-nitrobenzoic acid (DTNB) and 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (MBA)—were used to label the synthesized Au@Ag core-shell nanoparticles for the preparation of SERS nanoprobes as detection reagents. Six corresponding hapten-protein conjugates were prepared and dispensed on three test lines of nitrocellulose membrane with two conjugates on each line as capture antigens. This design facilitates the simultaneous detection of the six mycotoxins in a single test. After optimizing the experimental parameters of immunosensor, the limits of detection were as low as 0.96 pg/mL for aflatoxin B1, 6.2 pg/mL for zearalenone, 0.26 ng/mL for fumonisin B1, 0.11 ng/mL for deoxynivalenol, 15.7 pg/mL for ochratoxin A, and 8.6 pg/mL for T-2 toxin, respectively. The spiking experiment showed high accuracy with recovery of 78.9–106.2 % and satisfactory assay precision with the coefficient of variations below 16 %. Moreover, this assay can be completed in less than 20 min, and its detection results were consistent with that of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Therefore, the developed SERS-based lateral flow immunosensor is a promising approach for mycotoxin detection in the field.
Global trade of agricultural commodities (e.g., animal feed) requires monitoring for fungal toxins. Also, little is known about masked and emerging toxins and metabolites. 1926 samples from 52 ...countries were analysed for toxins and metabolites. Of 162 compounds detected, up to 68 metabolites were found in a single sample. A subset of 1113 finished feed, maize and maize silage samples containing 57 compounds from 2012 to 2015 from 44 countries was investigated using liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. Deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenone (ZEN) and fumonisins showed large increases of annual medians in Europe. Within a region, distinct trends were observed, suggesting importance of local meteorology and cultivars. In 2015, median DON concentrations increased to 1400 μ g·kg - 1 in Austria, but were stable in Germany at 350 μ g·kg - 1 . In 2014, enniatins occurred at median concentrations of 250 μ g·kg - 1 in Europe, at levels similar to DON and ZEN. The latter were frequently correlated with DON-3-glucoside and ZEN-14-sulfate. Co-occurrence of regulated toxins was frequent with e.g., enniatins, and moniliformin. Correlation was observed between DON and DON-3-glucoside and with beauvericin. Results indicate that considerably more than 25% of agricultural commodities could be contaminated with mycotoxins as suggested by FAO, although this is at least partly due to the lower limits of detection in the current survey. Observed contamination percentages ranged from 7.1 to 79% for B trichothecenes and 88% for ZEN.
The special issue “New Insight into Mycotoxins and Bacterial Toxins: Toxicity Assessment, Molecular Mechanism and Food Safety” in Food and Chemical Toxicology contains 19 articles on current hot ...topics in mycotoxins and bacterial toxins. Dietary exposure to mycotoxins and risk assessments are reported in this issue. Molecular mechanisms of multiple mycotoxins and emerging mechanisms of toxicity are especially concerned by researchers. Moreover, mycotoxin-detoxifying substances and antimicrobial agents are also fully investigated in the context. This special issue will help to further understand the mycotoxins and bacterial toxins, casting new light for the control of food safety.
Mycotoxins are potentially hazardous secondary metabolites produced by filamentous fungi (molds). These small molecular weight compounds (often less than 1 000 Da) are found in nature and are almost ...unavoidable. They can infiltrate our food chain either directly or indirectly through contaminated plant-based food components or toxigenic fungal development on food. Mycotoxins can build up in ripening corn, cereals, soybeans, sorghum, peanuts, and other food and feed crops in the field and during transportation. Humans and animals can get sick from eating mycotoxin-contaminated food or feed, which can result in acute or chronic poisoning. In addition to worries regarding direct consumption of mycotoxin-contaminated foods and feeds, the public is concerned about the possibility of ingesting mycotoxin residues or metabolites in animal-derived food products such as meat, milk, or eggs. Three fungal genera dominate mycotoxin production: Aspergillus, Fusarium, and Penicillium. Although more than 300 mycotoxins have been found, only six of them (aflatoxins, trichothecenes, zearalenone, fumonisins, ochratoxins, and patulin) are consistently detected in food, posing unpredictability and continuous food safety issues worldwide. This article focused on some of them, which are typically found in foods that have been contaminated by one or more of these mycotoxins.
Alternaria species produce various sorts of toxic metabolites during their active growth and causes severe diseases in many plants by limiting their productivity. These toxic metabolites incorporate ...various mycotoxins comprising of dibenzo-α-pyrone and some tetramic acid derivatives. In this study, we have screened out total 48 isolates of Alternaria from different plants belonging to different locations in India, on the basis of their pathogenic nature. Pathogenicity testing of these 48 strains on susceptible tomato variety (CO-3) showed 27.08% of the strains were highly pathogenic, 35.41% moderately pathogenic and 37.5% were less pathogenic. Phylogenetic analysis showed the presence of at least eight evolutionary cluster of the pathogen. Toxins (TeA, AOH and AME) were isolated, purified on the basis of column chromatography and TLC, and further confirmed by the HPLC-UV chromatograms using standards. The final detection of toxins was done by the LC-MS/MS analysis by their mass/charge ratio. The present study develops an approach to classify the toxicogenic effect of each of the individual mycotoxins on tomato plant and focuses their differential susceptibility to develop disease symptoms. This study represents the report of the natural occurrence and distribution of Alternaria toxins in various plants from India.
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