Co-occurrence of mycotoxins in commercial formula milk and cereal-based baby food on the Qatar market. Issue 3 (3rd July 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ul Hassan, Zahoor; Al Thani, Roda; A. Atia, Fathy; Al Meer, Saeed; Migheli, Quirico; Jaoua, Samir
• Is Part Of: Food additives & contaminants. Volume 11:Issue 3(2018)
• Page Start: 191
• Page End: 197
• Publication Date: 2018-07-03
• Subjects: Food safety -- food contaminants -- co-contamination -- mycotoxins -- infant diet -- baby food; Food additives -- Periodicals; Food contamination -- Periodicals; 664.07
• DOI: 10.1080/19393210.2018.1437785
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1939-3210

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The present study was conducted to explore the occurrence of mycotoxins in commercial baby foods in Doha-Qatar. LCMS/MS- and HPLC-based analysis of baby food (n = 67) for 12 mycotoxins confirmed the presence of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1, 33%), ochratoxin A (OTA, 31%), deoxynivalenol (DON, 27%), aflatoxin B1 (AFB1, 22%), fumonisin B2 (FB2, 10%), zearalenone (ZEN, 4%) and T-2 toxin (2%). Noodles exhibited the maximum contamination percentage, with 33% of the samples being contaminated above the EU maximum limits, for at least one mycotoxin. Among the multi-grain flake samples, up to 28% and for the milk and milk-based-cereal samples, 14% contained at least one mycotoxin above the EU maximum limits. From all cereal-based food samples, 22%, 5%, 2% and 2% were concurrently contaminated with 2, 3, 4 and 5 mycotoxins, respectively. The occurrence of toxicological important mycotoxins in Qatari market warrants the implementation of strict regulatory limits to protect human health.