Occurrence of major mycotoxins in maize from Hebei Province, China

Abstract

To investigate the frequency of occurrence and the concentrations of aflatoxins (AFs), deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenone (ZEN) and fumonisins (FBs) in naturally infected maize, 25 samples of maize collected from fields in Hebei Province, China, were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The maize samples were found to be frequently contaminated with DON (68%), ZEN (60%) and FBs (32%) in the range from 28 to 2533 μg/kg, 60 to 1239 μg/kg and 150 to 4480 μg/kg, respectively. The average concentration found for DON, ZEN and FB1 + FB2 were 605, 238 and 418 μg/kg, respectively. The average concentration of DON (605 μg/kg) in our samples was below the maximum tolerable limit of 1000 μg/kg set as the Chinese standard for maize, while ZEN (238 μg/kg) was almost four times as high as the maximum tolerable limit of 60 μg/kg. The overall level of FB (FB1 + FB2) contamination was relatively low, with an average concentration of 418 μg/kg in 32% (8 of 25) of maize samples from Hebei. AFs were not detected in any of the tested samples. This is the first report on the natural occurrence of multimycotoxin in maize in China.