Ozone as decontaminating agent for ground corn containing deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, and ochratoxin A

Abstract

Abstract Mycotoxins have been known as one of the major food safety risks in food and feed. The focus of many studies is a quest for solutions that will provide decontamination of mycotoxin‐contaminated commodities. The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of ozone treatment on deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenone (ZEN), and ochratoxin A (OTA) content in naturally contaminated ground corn. Moisture content in ground corn at the beginning of ozonation procedure was 10.00 ± 0.07%. Ozone levels of 40, 85, and 99 mg/L were applied on contaminated ground corn for 20, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 180 min, resulting in the decrease of DON, ZEN, and OTA up to 42.8%, 68.1%, and 70.3%, respectively. Unfortunately, DON, as a common contaminant of corn, appeared to be quite difficult to degrade, with estimated half‐life range of 217–330 min. First‐order kinetic model applied to mycotoxin degradation rate showed good fit for the application at ozone levels of 85 and 99 mg/L for all three mycotoxins, with a regression coefficient range from 0.82 to 0.97. Accordingly, ozone could be used as an effective way to decontaminate ground corn naturally contaminated with DON, ZEN, and OTA, although being more effective in the degradation of ZEN and OTA than in case of DON.