Abstract
Zearalenone (ZEN) is one of the most polluted mycotoxins in maize and maize-products. To date, however, previous studies have only focused on the presence of free ZEN. To confirm the occurrence of hidden ZEN in maize and maize-products, the samples were pretreated using different hydrolysis methods and in vitro digestion. In this study, significantly increased amount of total detectable ZEN was found by the hydrolysis with compound protease and especially in vitro digestion, which indicated the presence of hidden ZEN in maize. The hidden ZEN can be converted into its free form by in vitro digestion and then be found/detected out. Especially, zein-bound zearalenone was the main “hidden mode” for the presence of hidden ZEN. The amount of total detectable ZEN in digested zein was 7 times higher than that in undigested zein. And also, fluorescence quenching and ultrafiltration studies also showed that ZEN can bind with zein spontaneously by non-covalent bonds. Overall, this study aroused an important issue for risk assessment that the total amount of ZEN in maize products might be underestimated due to the presence of zein-bound ZEN.
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