Abstract
This study reports the results of aflatoxins B/G monitoring in food of vegetal origin, imported in Southern Italy from extra-European Union countries. From 2017 to 2020, we analyzed 1675 samples using an accredited HPLC method with fluorescence detection. We found out 295 samples (17.6%) were contaminated by aflatoxin B1, 204 by aflatoxins B/G (12.2%), while 75 (4.5%) resulted non-compliant to maximum limits set by the European Union law. Most of the batches tested were unprocessed food; the distribution of contamination levels, incidence of non-compliant samples, inference for different kinds of food are reported. The study focuses on the food more susceptible to contamination by aflatoxins; nuts are the food more controlled, showing the higher number of non-compliant samples. Our study confirms that pistachio nuts, hazelnuts and almonds are the major sources of exposure for consumers. Still, other products, such as chili pepper and Brazil nuts, need to get more information about their contamination levels. The study’s findings are discussed in the perspective of the last opinion by EFSA about chronic exposure to aflatoxins. A case study to evaluate not compliance of a composed food to the European Union law is reported.
Highlights
The contamination of food and feed by mycotoxins is a worldwide concern and a remarkable issue regarding food safety policies
Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), aflatoxin B2 (AFB2), aflatoxin G1 (AFG1) and AFG2 were purified by immunoaffinity SPE chromatography, separated and determined by reversed-phase HPLC with fluorescence detection (FLD) after photochemical derivatization by UVE
We measured the limit of quantification (LOQ) and calculated the limit of detection (LOD) for each aflatoxin
Summary
The contamination of food and feed by mycotoxins is a worldwide concern and a remarkable issue regarding food safety policies. The aflatoxins (AFs) represent the most relevant risk to consumers because they are carcinogenic, genotoxic and teratogen compounds They are the result of the secondary metabolism of toxigenic strains of the fungi Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus and can contaminate vegetation, cereals, nuts, as well as hay and feed. The origin of this contamination is natural, but it could derive, or even be incremented, by improper storage of susceptible commodities (for example, chili peppers and other spices, nuts, rice, maize, wheat, figs, raisins, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds). For keeping mycotoxin levels as low as reasonably achievable and ensuring fair practices in the food trade, recommended good agricultural, storage and processing practices are necessary
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