Natural occurrence of mycotoxins and their masked forms in food and feed products

A total of 174 cereal-based food products, 67 compound feeds and 19 feed raw materials were analysed for the occurrence of deoxynivalenol, 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol, 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol, zearalenone, a-zearalenol, beta-zearalenol, and their respective masked forms, including deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside, zearalenone-4-glucoside, alpha-zearalenol-4-glucoside, beta-zearalenol-4-glucoside and zearalenone-4-sulfate. Fibre-enriched bread, bran-enriched bread, cornflakes, popcorn and oatmeal were collected in Belgian supermarkets from April 2010 to October 2011. All food samples analysed were contaminated with an average of 2 to 6 mycotoxins, including 1 to 3 masked forms. Feed raw materials that were used in the analysed compound feeds were collected by the manufacturer. Feed raw materials included were beet pulp, sunflower seed meal, soy bean, soy peel, oats, barley, maize germs, maize gluten feed, maize, wheat gluten feed, wheat bran pellets, wheat bran and wheat. Beet pulp, sunflower seed meal, soy bean and soy peel were hardly contaminated. The feed raw materials that were mostly infected with deoxynivalenol, zearalenone and derivatives were maize and its by-products. Also, the glucosylated and sulfated forms occurred in substantial amounts. As well, wheat and its by-products were contaminated with a-zearalenol (wheat gluten feed and wheat bran) and zearalenone (wheat). The contamination pattern and level of feed raw materials were reflected in the corresponding compound feeds.