Multi-Mycotoxin Method Development Using Ultra-High Liquid Chromatography with Orbitrap High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry Detection in Breakfast Cereals from the Campania Region, Italy

Overview

Journal Toxins (Basel)

Publisher MDPI

Specialty Toxicology

Date 2023 Feb 24

PMID 36828462

Authors

Alfonso Narvaez

Luana Izzo

Luigi Castaldo

Sonia Lombardi

Yelko Rodriguez-Carrasco

Alberto Ritieni

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Breakfast cereals have been reported as one of the most susceptible cereal-based products to mycotoxin contamination. These products pose an even more concerning risk to human health since they are marketed as a ready-to-eat product and one of its main population targets is children. Therefore, the main goal of the present study was to conduct a monitoring study of multiple mycotoxins contained in breakfast cereals samples marketed in Italy through ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution Q-Orbitrap tandem mass spectrometry. An acetonitrile-based methodology was validated for quantifying 24 mycotoxins in breakfast cereals. The results showed that 93% of the samples contained at least one mycotoxin. Beauvericin was the most prevalent toxin (86% of samples; mean concentration: 30.66 µg/kg), although the main enniatins, zearalenone-derived forms and fumonisins B1 and B2 were also detected. Co-occurrence was observed in 73% of the positive samples with up to five mycotoxins simultaneously occurring, mainly due to the combination of beauvericin and enniatins. These results provided more evidence about the high impact of non-regulated mycotoxins, such as the emerging toxins, in breakfast cereals, and encourages the development of analytical methodologies including these and zearalenone-derived forms that could be going unnoticed with current methodologies.

Citing Articles

Quantification of 700 mycotoxins and other secondary metabolites of fungi and plants in grain products.

Sulyok M, Suman M, Krska R NPJ Sci Food. 2024; 8(1):49.

PMID: 39097644 PMC: 11297916. DOI: 10.1038/s41538-024-00294-7.

Multi-Mycotoxin Analysis in Italian Grains Using Ultra-High-Performance Chromatography Coupled to Quadrupole Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry.

Lima da Silva J, Lombardi S, Castaldo L, Morelli E, Garda-Buffon J, Izzo L Toxins (Basel). 2023; 15(9).

PMID: 37755988 PMC: 10535900. DOI: 10.3390/toxins15090562.

T-2 and HT-2 Toxins: Toxicity, Occurrence and Analysis: A Review.

Meneely J, Greer B, Kolawole O, Elliott C Toxins (Basel). 2023; 15(8).

PMID: 37624238 PMC: 10467144. DOI: 10.3390/toxins15080481.

References

Mallmann C, Tyska D, Almeida C, Oliveira M, Gressler L . Mycotoxicological monitoring of breakfast and infant cereals marketed in Brazil. Int J Food Microbiol. 2020; 331:108628. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2020.108628. View

Shanakhat H, Sorrentino A, Raiola A, Romano A, Masi P, Cavella S . Current methods for mycotoxins analysis and innovative strategies for their reduction in cereals: an overview. J Sci Food Agric. 2018; 98(11):4003-4013. DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.8933. View

Rodriguez-Carrasco Y, Molto J, Berrada H, Manes J . A survey of trichothecenes, zearalenone and patulin in milled grain-based products using GC-MS/MS. Food Chem. 2013; 146:212-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.09.053. View

Rodriguez-Carrasco Y, Narvaez A, Izzo L, Gaspari A, Graziani G, Ritieni A . Biomonitoring of Enniatin B1 and Its Phase I Metabolites in Human Urine: First Large-Scale Study. Toxins (Basel). 2020; 12(6). PMC: 7354432. DOI: 10.3390/toxins12060415. View

Izzo L, Narvaez A, Castaldo L, Gaspari A, Rodriguez-Carrasco Y, Grosso M . Multiclass and multi-residue screening of mycotoxins, pharmacologically active substances, and pesticides in infant milk formulas through ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry analysis. J Dairy Sci. 2022; 105(4):2948-2962. DOI: 10.3168/jds.2021-21123. View

Lo Magro S, Campaniello M, Nardiello D, Muscarella M . Assessment of fumonisins B1 and B2 levels in commercial maize-based food products by liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection and postcolumn chemical derivatization. J Food Sci. 2011; 76(1):T1-4. DOI: 10.1111/j.1750-3841.2010.01948.x. View

Juan C, Ritieni A, Manes J . Occurrence of Fusarium mycotoxins in Italian cereal and cereal products from organic farming. Food Chem. 2013; 141(3):1747-55. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.04.061. View

Izzo L, Castaldo L, Narvaez A, Gaspari A, Grosso M, Rodriguez-Carrasco Y . Target analysis and retrospective screening of contaminants in ready-to-eat cooked ham samples through UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS. Food Chem. 2022; 408:135244. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2022.135244. View

Romagnoli B, Ferrari M, Bergamini C . Simultaneous determination of deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, T-2 and HT-2 toxins in breakfast cereals and baby food by high-performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry. J Mass Spectrom. 2010; 45(9):1075-80. DOI: 10.1002/jms.1802. View

10.

Narvaez A, Rodriguez-Carrasco Y, Castaldo L, Izzo L, Graziani G, Ritieni A . Occurrence and Exposure Assessment of Mycotoxins in Ready-to-Eat Tree Nut Products through Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with High Resolution Q-Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry. Metabolites. 2020; 10(9). PMC: 7570263. DOI: 10.3390/metabo10090344. View

11.

Foerster C, Monsalve L, Rios-Gajardo G . Mycotoxin Exposure in Children through Breakfast Cereal Consumption in Chile. Toxins (Basel). 2022; 14(5). PMC: 9146524. DOI: 10.3390/toxins14050324. View

12.

Khaneghah A, Fakhri Y, Raeisi S, Armoon B, SantAna A . Prevalence and concentration of ochratoxin A, zearalenone, deoxynivalenol and total aflatoxin in cereal-based products: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Food Chem Toxicol. 2018; 118:830-848. DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2018.06.037. View

13.

Rodriguez-Carrasco Y, Izzo L, Gaspari A, Graziani G, Manes J, Ritieni A . Urinary levels of enniatin B and its phase I metabolites: First human pilot biomonitoring study. Food Chem Toxicol. 2018; 118:454-459. DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2018.05.052. View

14.

Izzo L, Luz C, Ritieni A, Manes J, Meca G . Whey fermented by using Lactobacillus plantarum strains: A promising approach to increase the shelf life of pita bread. J Dairy Sci. 2020; 103(7):5906-5915. DOI: 10.3168/jds.2019-17547. View

15.

Karsauliya K, Yahavi C, Pandey A, Bhateria M, Sonker A, Pandey H . Co-occurrence of mycotoxins: A review on bioanalytical methods for simultaneous analysis in human biological samples, mixture toxicity and risk assessment strategies. Toxicon. 2022; 218:25-39. DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2022.08.016. View

16.

Pereira V, Fernandes J, Cunha S . Comparative assessment of three cleanup procedures after QuEChERS extraction for determination of trichothecenes (type A and type B) in processed cereal-based baby foods by GC-MS. Food Chem. 2015; 182:143-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.01.047. View

17.

Malachova A, Dzuman Z, Veprikova Z, Vaclavikova M, Zachariasova M, Hajslova J . Deoxynivalenol, deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside, and enniatins: the major mycotoxins found in cereal-based products on the Czech market. J Agric Food Chem. 2011; 59(24):12990-7. DOI: 10.1021/jf203391x. View

18.

Capei R, Pettini L, Mando Tacconi F . Occurrence of Ochratoxin A in breakfast cereals and sweet snacks in Italy: dietary exposure assessment. Ann Ig. 2019; 31(2):130-139. DOI: 10.7416/ai.2019.2265. View

19.

Izzo L, Rodriguez-Carrasco Y, Tolosa J, Graziani G, Gaspari A, Ritieni A . Target analysis and retrospective screening of mycotoxins and pharmacologically active substances in milk using an ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry approach. J Dairy Sci. 2019; 103(2):1250-1260. DOI: 10.3168/jds.2019-17277. View

20.

Martins C, Assuncao R, Cunha S, Fernandes J, Jager A, Petta T . Assessment of multiple mycotoxins in breakfast cereals available in the Portuguese market. Food Chem. 2017; 239:132-140. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2017.06.088. View