Investigations on the occurrence of mycotoxins in beer

Mycotoxin analysis of industrial beers from Brazil: The influence of fumonisin B1 and deoxynivalenol in beer quality

Worldwide, barley is the main source of carbohydrate in the brewing process. However, corn is often used as an adjunct to improve and accelerate the fermentation process. Considering that, these two substrates are susceptible to fungal contamination as well as mycotoxins. The objective of the current study is to determine the incidence of the mycotoxins deoxynivalenol (DON) and fumonisin B₁ (FB₁) in industrial beers. The method applied for mycotoxin analyses included high performance liquid chromatography_. The mean levels for recovery experiments were 89.6% for DON and 93.3% for FB₁. DON was not detected in any of the analyzed samples whereas FB₁ was found in 49% of the 114 samples. The current survey demonstrated levels of FB₁ contamination in industrial beer, possibly due to the addition of contaminated adjuncts. It is necessary to establish maximum levels of mycotoxins in beer in Brazil and other countries in order to reduce health risks.