Trends in mycotoxin contamination in maize samples harvested in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America between 2018 and 2020

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to examine the pattern of mycotoxin contamination in maize destined for animal feed in different global regions (Europe, Africa, Asia and South Americas) over a period of 3 years (2018–2020) with up to 1,000+ samples analysed in each year.

MATERIALS & METHODS

Using LC-MS/MS, it was possible to quantify the relative contamination present in the samples in each year from the different regions of eleven different mycotoxins:

Aflatoxin B₁ and B₂ (AFB₁ and AFB₂)
Aflatoxin G₁ and G₂ (AFG₁ and AFG₂)
Ochratoxin A (OTA)
Deoxynivalenol (DON)
Fumonisin B₁ (FB₁)
Fumonisin B₂ (FB₂)
Zearalenone (ZEN)
T-2 toxin
HT-2 toxin

RESULTS

Overall, >75% of samples in each of the survey years were contaminated with multiple mycotoxins, regardless of the global region (Europe, Africa, Asia, South Americas countries).

⇰ The trends in mycotoxin contamination showed that there was consistent contamination with DON in the 3 sampling years in all four regions.

⇰ Interestingly, AFB₁ contamination was prevalent in all regions in 2018, but more predominant in Europe in 2019. In contrast, in 2020 it was only found to be the major contaminant in Africa.

⇰ FB₁ contamination of maize, which was prevalent in Europe in 2018, became more prevalent in Asia and LATAM countries in 2019 and in Africa in 2020.

CONCLUSIONS

The comparison of contamination with different mycotoxins in each of the years globally showed significant differences for AFB₁, FB₁, DON, and ZEN.

These results highlight the trend of contamination of maize with mixtures of mycotoxins and the importance of their control in this key commodity used as an important ingredient in animal feed.

Autores

Jog Raj¹, Hunor Farkaš¹, Zdenka Jakovčević¹, Ángel Medina², Naresh Magan², Robert Čepela¹ and Marko Vasiljević¹

¹PATENT CO, DOO, Mišićevo, Serbia
²Applied Mycology Group, Environment and AgriFood Theme, Cranfield University, UK

References

Jog Raj, Hunor Farkaš, Zdenka Jakovčević, Angel Medina, Naresh Magan, Robert Čepela & Marko Vasiljević (2022): Comparison of multiple mycotoxins in harvested maize samples in three years (2018–2020) in four continents, Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A, doi: 10.1080/19440049.2021.2012600