The fate of mycotoxins in oranges during storage and processing

Abstract

To evaluate the safety of orange consumption induced by mycotoxins, ‘Newhall’ navel oranges were artificially inoculated with P. expansum and A. tenuissima, followed by an evaluation of the distribution and migration patterns of corresponding mycotoxins (patulin [PAT], tentoxin [Ten], altenuene [ALT], alternariol monomethyl ether [AME], alternariol [AOH] and tenuazonic acid [TeA]) during orange storage and processing. The concentration of mycotoxins decreased as the increase of distance from the lesion, and mycotoxins could be detected throughout the orange when the lesion extended to 8 mm in diameter. AOH and AME pose the primary source of dietary risk with high concentrations and low thresholds of toxicological concern. Orange juice and pectin processing could remove 43.4–98.7% of mycotoxins, while tangerine peelprocessing might lead to significant enrichment of mycotoxins with the processing factors (PFs) of 2.8–3.5. The findings may offer scientific insights into mitigating the dietary risk of mycotoxin exposure from oranges and their derivatives.