Abstract
Poland is one of Europe’s leading producers and exporters of beer. The study, herein, describes the measurement of ochratoxin A, deoxynivalenol, nivalenol, T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin, diacetoxyscirpenol, and zearalenone levels in 69 Polish beers. Analytical methodologies based on high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and fluorescence detection were developed, validated, and used to perform the above determinations. The most prevalent mycotoxins were deoxynivalenol (96%), ochratoxin A (93%), and HT-2 toxin (74%), respectively. Three quarters of the samples contained at least three analytes. The mean ochratoxin A concentration was 0.057 (SD 0.065) ng/mL, and in four beer samples its level exceeded 0.2 ng/mL, a value postulated in the literature to be the maximum limit. Deoxynivalenol was found at a maximum level of 56.2 ng/mL, and its mean concentration was 17.1 (SD 9.0) ng/mL. An evaluation of the estimated daily intake (EDI) of mycotoxins from beer in different European populations was made using food-consumption data prepared by WHO. Based on the mean ochratoxin A concentration in beers, the EDI represented 0.8–1.1% of the tolerable daily intake (TDI), while in a worst-case scenario (maximum concentration) it reached 5.0–7.5% of TDI. For deoxynivalenol, the EDI was in the range of 4.1–6.0% of TDI, whereas, based on maximum values, it reached the level of 14–21% of TDI. There were no significant differences between “scenarios” in the HT-2 case (mean—5.0–7.5% of TDI; maximum—6.5–9.7% of TDI) due to the fact that its concentration was near the limit of quantification (LOQ) value taken for calculation. The significance of these results are discussed, herein.
Highlights
Beer is one of the most popular alcoholic beverages in the world, and it is consumed in large amounts in almost every country
The recovery was calculated using the blank beer samples spiked with seven mycotoxins, at three different levels, with triplicate analyses conducted for each level
Our results indicate that DON was the most frequently occurring mycotoxin, followed by the ochratoxin A (OTA) and the HT-2 toxin
Summary
Beer is one of the most popular alcoholic beverages in the world, and it is consumed in large amounts in almost every country. Beer-like beverages were known in China, as long as 70 centuries before the current era. One of the beer precursor could be “braga”. The popularity of beer continues; it is one of the most consumed beverage in the world. Beer plays an important role in the human diet, and any foodstuff consumed in such large quantities is a potential path for ingestion of harmful substances
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