Determination of Fusarium mycotoxins enniatins, beauvericin and fusaproliferin in cereals and derived products from Tunisia

2011

Abstract In this study, 51 samples of cereals (wheat, Barley, maize and Sorghum) and by-products (mainly pasta and couscous) purchased from Tunisian supermarkets were examined for contamination with the emerging Fusarium mycotoxins: Enniatins ENs (EN A, EN A 1 , EN B and EN B 1 ), beauvericin (BEA) and fusaproliferin (FUS). The extraction of the samples was performed with methanol using an Ultra-turrax homogenizer. Mycotoxins were analyzed with a liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to a diode array detector (DAD). The frequencies of contamination of total samples with ENs were 96%. EN A 1 was the most common EN found with the highest prevalence of 92.1%, levels ranged between 11.1 and 480 mg…