Mycotoxins in wheat flour and intake assessment in Shandong province of China

Abstract

In the present study, the occurrence and contamination levels of eight mycotoxins were investigated in wheat flour samples (n = 359) from Shandong Province of China. Samples were determined using a multi-mycotoxin method based on isotope dilution ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. The results indicated that the most frequently found mycotoxins were deoxynivalenol (DON) (97.2%), nivalenol (40.4%) and deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside (33.4%), and mean contamination levels in positive samples were 86.7, 3.55 and 3.34 µg kg−1, respectively. The obtained data were further used to estimate the daily intake of the local population, and indicated that wheat flour consumption contributes little to DON exposure. However, with the aim to keep the contamination levels under control and to establish a more precise evaluation of the mycotoxin burden in Shandong Province, more sample data from different harvest years and seasons are needed in the future.