Target Analysis and Retrospective Screening of Multiple Mycotoxins in Pet Food Using UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS

The Potential of Multi-Screening Methods and Omics Technologies to Detect Both Regulated and Emerging Mycotoxins in Different Matrices

Mycotoxins are well-known secondary metabolites produced by several fungi that grow and occur in different crops during both pre-harvest and post-harvest conditions. The contamination and occurrence of mycotoxins currently represent some of the major issues in the entire agri-food system. The quantification of mycotoxins in different feeds and foodstuffs is extremely difficult because of the low concentration ranges; therefore, both sample collection and preparation are essential to providing accurate detection and reliable quantification. Currently, several analytical methods are available for the detection of mycotoxins in both feed and food products, and liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) represents the most reliable instrumental approach. In particular, the fast development of high-throughput methods has made it possible to screen and analyze, in the same analytical run and with high accuracy, multiple mycotoxins, such as those regulated, masked, or modified, and emerging ones. Therefore, the aim of this review is to provide an overview of the state of the art of mycotoxins occurrence, health-related concerns, and analyses, discussing the need to perform multi-screening approaches combined with omics technologies to simultaneously analyze several mycotoxins in different feed and food matrices. This approach is expected to provide more comprehensive information about the profile and distribution of emerging mycotoxins, thus enhancing the understanding of their co-occurrence and impact on the entire production chain.

A green-footprint approach for parallel multiclass analysis of contaminants in roasted coffee via LC-HRMS

The development and validation of a simple, comprehensive, and environment-friendly procedure to determine pesticide residues, naturally occurring and processing contaminants in roasted coffee is presented. A solid-liquid extraction of pesticides and mycotoxins with ethyl acetate and the concurrent partition of acrylamide to an aqueous phase follows a parallel analytical strategy that requires a single analytical portion to determine contaminants that are typically analyzed by dedicated single residue methods. The partition rules the lipids out of the aqueous extract before an "in-tube" dispersive solid phase microextraction (dSPME) for acrylamide retention. This is followed by the elution with buffer prior to injection. This extract is independently introduced into the system front end followed by the injection of the compounds from the organic phase, yet all spotted in the same run. A novel liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) method setup enables the quantification of 186 compounds at 10 µg/kg, 226 at 5 µg/kg, and the acrylamide at 200 µg/kg for a total of 414 molecules, with acceptable recoveries (70-120%) and precision (RSD < 20%) making this strategy significantly faster and cost-effective than the dedicated single residue methods. Even though the presence of chlorpyrifos, acrylamide, and ochratoxin A was confirmed on samples of different origins, the findings were below the limit of quantification. During the storage of raw coffee, no proof of masking of OTA was found; however, condensation with glucose was evidenced during thermal processing experiments with sucrose by using stable isotope labeling (SIL). No detected conjugates were found in roasted nor in commercial sugar-added torrefacto samples, an industrial processing usually carried out above the decomposition temperature of the disaccharide.

Modified Mycotoxins and Multitoxin Contamination of Food and Feed as Major Analytical Challenges

Mycotoxins, as natural products of molds, are often unavoidable contaminants of food and feed, to which the increasingly evident climate changes contribute a large part. The consequences are more or less severe and range from economic losses to worrying health problems to a fatal outcome. One of the best preventive approaches is regular monitoring of food and feed for the presence of mycotoxins. However, even under conditions of frequent, comprehensive, and conscientious controls, the desired protection goal may not be achieved. In fact, it often happens that, despite favorable analytical results that do not indicate high mycotoxin contamination, symptoms of their presence occur in practice. The most common reasons for this are the simultaneous presence of several different mycotoxins whose individual content does not exceed the detectable or prescribed values and/or the alteration of the form of the mycotoxin, which renders it impossible to be analytically determined using routine methods. When such contaminated foods enter a living organism, toxic effects occur. This article aims to shed light on the above problems in order to pay more attention to them, work to reduce their impact, and, eventually, overcome them.

Mycotoxins in Cereal-Based Products and Their Impacts on the Health of Humans, Livestock Animals and Pets

Cereal grains are the most important food staples for human beings and livestock animals. They can be processed into various types of food and feed products such as bread, pasta, breakfast cereals, cake, snacks, beer, complete feed, and pet foods. However, cereal grains are vulnerable to the contamination of soil microorganisms, particularly molds. The toxigenic fungi/molds not only cause quality deterioration and grain loss, but also produce toxic secondary metabolites, mycotoxins, which can cause acute toxicity, death, and chronic diseases such as cancer, immunity suppression, growth impairment, and neural tube defects in humans, livestock animals and pets. To protect human beings and animals from these health risks, many countries have established/adopted regulations to limit exposure to mycotoxins. The purpose of this review is to update the evidence regarding the occurrence and co-occurrence of mycotoxins in cereal grains and cereal-derived food and feed products and their health impacts on human beings, livestock animals and pets. The effort for safe food and feed supplies including prevention technologies, detoxification technologies/methods and up-to-date regulation limits of frequently detected mycotoxins in cereal grains for food and feed in major cereal-producing countries are also provided. Some important areas worthy of further investigation are proposed.

Analysis of Mycotoxin and Secondary Metabolites in Commercial and Traditional Slovak Cheese Samples

Cheese represents a dairy product extremely inclined to fungal growth and mycotoxin production. The growth of fungi belonging to Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, Claviceps, Alternaria, and Trichoderma genera in or on cheese leads to undesirable changes able to affect the quality of the final products. In the present investigation, a total of 68 types of commercial and traditional Slovak cheeses were analyzed to investigate the occurrence of fungal metabolites. Altogether, 13 fungal metabolites were identified and quantified. Aflatoxin M1, the only mycotoxin regulated in milk and dairy products, was not detected in any case. However, the presence of metabolites that have never been reported in cheeses, such as tryptophol at a maximum concentration level from 13.4 to 7930 µg/kg (average: 490 µg/kg), was recorded. Out of all detected metabolites, enniatin B represents the most frequently detected mycotoxin (0.06–0.71 µg/kg) in the analyzed samples. Attention is drawn to the lack of data on mycotoxins’ origin from Slovak cheeses; in fact, this is the first reported investigation. Our results indicate the presence of fungal mycotoxin contamination for which maximum permissible levels are not established, highlighting the importance of monitoring the source and producers of contamination in order to protect consumers’ health.

Screening of multi-mycotoxins in fruits by ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to ion mobility quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

A modified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe extraction procedure combined with ultra-performance liquid chromatographic separation and ion mobility quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry was developed to determine the presence of 20 mycotoxins (i.e., Alternaria toxins, ochratoxin, patulin, aflatoxin and trichothecenes) in fruit samples from Xinjiang. A complete platform, including screening via an in-house library, confirmation and quantification using reference standards, was established, which provided accurate MS data and complete spectra containing the fragment ions for each analyte. To evaluate the performance of the developed method, satisfactory validation parameters, such as linearity (R² ≥ 0.9992), precision (RSDs ≤ 9.8%), recovery (81.2-99.2%), LOD (0.06-2.22 µg kg^-1), and LOQ (0.2-7.39 µg kg^-1), were obtained. The analysis of 130 fruit samples revealed nonnegligible contamination with mycotoxins; specifically, the highest levels of three Alternaria toxins were detected in jujube, wolfberries and raisins.

Review of occurrence of mycotoxins in Serbian food items in the period from 2005 to 2022

This paper aimed to review the publications on mycotoxins' presence in cereals and foodstuffs originated from the Serbian market covering the period from 2005 to 2022. The review covers all the important steps in mycotoxins analysis including sampling, sample preparation, instrumental analysis, and concentration ranges in which the mycotoxins were found. Also, the results were interpreted from the European Union regulation point of view. The review emphasizes the importance of multi-mycotoxins analysis for determining the simultaneous presence of mycotoxins that can negatively affect the Serbian human population. The most frequently used instrumental technique in the mycotoxin analysis of Serbian products was the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay followed by the Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. Most of the studies undertaken in Serbia until now investigated a few groups of matrices such as wheat, maize, milk, and dairy products. Only a few studies involved specific matrices such as nuts, dried fruits, biscuits, cookies, and spices. The review showed that contamination of milk and dairy products with aflatoxin M1 (AFM1), occurred at the very beginning of 2013, was the major health issue related to the population health. The contamination of milk and dairy products with the AFM1 was a consequence of maize contamination with aflatoxins which occurred in the year 2012, characterized by drought conditions. The studies dealing with the analysis of masked and emerging mycotoxins are rare and more attention should be paid to monitoring the presence of these types of mycotoxins in foodstuffs from Serbia.

Review of occurrence of mycotoxins in Serbian food items in the period from 2005 to 2022

This paper aimed to review the publications on mycotoxins' presence in cereals and foodstuffs originated from the Serbian market covering the period from 2005 to 2022. The review covers all the important steps in mycotoxins analysis including sampling, sample preparation, instrumental analysis, and concentration ranges in which the mycotoxins were found. Also, the results were interpreted from the European Union regulation point of view. The review emphasizes the importance of multi-mycotoxins analysis for determining the simultaneous presence of mycotoxins that can negatively affect the Serbian human population. The most frequently used instrumental technique in the mycotoxin analysis of Serbian products was the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay followed by the Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. Most of the studies undertaken in Serbia until now investigated a few groups of matrices such as wheat, maize, milk, and dairy products. Only a few studies involved specific matrices such as nuts, dried fruits, biscuits, cookies, and spices. The review showed that contamination of milk and dairy products with aflatoxin M1 (AFM1), occurred at the very beginning of 2013, was the major health issue related to the population health. The contamination of milk and dairy products with the AFM1 was a consequence of maize contamination with aflatoxins which occurred in the year 2012, characterized by drought conditions. The studies dealing with the analysis of masked and emerging mycotoxins are rare and more attention should be paid to monitoring the presence of these types of mycotoxins in foodstuffs from Serbia.

Simultaneous Determination of 23 Mycotoxins in Broiler Tissues by Solid Phase Extraction UHPLC-Q/Orbitrap High Resolution Mass Spectrometry

Mycotoxins are a type of toxins harmful for not only animal but also human health. Cooccurrence of multi-mycotoxins could occur for food infected by several molds, producing multi-mycotoxins. It is necessary to develop corresponding determination methods, among which current mass spectrometry (MS) dominates. Currently, the accurate identification and quantitation of mycotoxins in complex matrices by MS with low resolution is still a challenge since false-positive results are typically obtained. Here, a method for the simultaneous determination of 23 mycotoxins in broiler tissues using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole/orbitrap HRMS was established. After the extraction by acetonitrile-water-formic acid (80:18:2, v/v/v), the purification by multifunctional purification solid phase extraction cartridges and the chromatographic separation on a C18 column, representative mycotoxins were determined by HRMS in full scan/data-dependent MS/MS acquisition mode. The quantitation was based on the external standard method. An MS/MS database of 23 mycotoxins was established to achieve qualitative screening and simultaneous quantification. Mycotoxins had a good linear relationship within a certain concentration range with correlation coefficients (r2) larger than 0.991 as well as the limit of quantitation of 1.80–300 μg/kg. The average recoveries at three different levels of low, medium and high fortification were 61–111% with relative standard deviations less than 13.5%. The method was fast, accurate, and suitable for the precise qualification of multiple mycotoxins in broiler tissues. 15 μg/kg zearalenone (ZEN) was detected in one liver sample among 30 samples from markets including chicken breast meat, liver, and gizzards. The result illustrated that the pollution of ZEN should not be neglected considering its harmful effect on the target organ of liver.

Mycotoxins—Prevention, Detection, Impact on Animal Health

Mycotoxins are defined as secondary metabolites of some species of mold fungi. They are present in many foods consumed by animals. Moreover, they most often contaminate products of plant and animal origin. Fungi of genera Fusarium, Aspergillus, and Penicillum are most often responsible for the production of mycotoxins. They release toxic compounds that, when properly accumulated, can affect many aspects of breeding, such as reproduction and immunity, as well as the overall liver detoxification performance of animals. Mycotoxins, which are chemical compounds, are extremely difficult to remove due to their natural resistance to mechanical, thermal, and chemical factors. Modern methods of analysis allow the detection of the presence of mycotoxins and determine the level of contamination with them, both in raw materials and in foods. Various food processes that can affect mycotoxins include cleaning, grinding, brewing, cooking, baking, frying, flaking, and extrusion. Most feeding processes have a variable effect on mycotoxins, with those that use high temperatures having the greatest influence. Unfortunately, all these processes significantly reduce mycotoxin amounts, but they do not completely eliminate them. This article presents the risks associated with the presence of mycotoxins in foods and the methods of their detection and prevention.

Multi-mycotoxin occurrence in feed, metabolism and carry-over to animal-derived food products: A review

The world requests for raw materials used in animal feed has been steadily rising in the last years driven by higher demands for livestock production. Mycotoxins are frequent toxic metabolites present in these raw materials. The exposure of farm animals to mycotoxins could result in undesirable residues in animal-derived food products. Thus, the potential ingestion of edible animal products (milk, meat and fish) contaminated with mycotoxins constitutes a public health concern, since they enter the food chain and may cause adverse effects upon human health. The present review summarizes the state-of-the-art on the occurrence of mycotoxins in feed, their metabolism and carry-over into animal source foodstuffs, focusing particularly on the last decade. Maximum levels (MLs) for various mycotoxins have been established for a number of raw feed materials and animal food products. Such values are sometimes exceeded, however. Aflatoxins (AFs), fumonisins (FBs), ochratoxin A (OTA), trichothecenes (TCs) and zearalenone (ZEN) are the most prevalent mycotoxins in animal feed, with aflatoxin M₁ (AFM1) predominating in milk and dairy products, and OTA in meat by-products. The co-occurrence of mycotoxins in feed raw materials tends to be the rule rather than the exception, and the carry-over of mycotoxins from feed to animal source foods is more than proven.

Screening of Regulated and Emerging Mycotoxins in Bulk Milk Samples by High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry

In this work, a retrospective screening based on ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) based on Orbitrap-Q-Exactive Focus™ was used to check the occurrence of regulated and emerging mycotoxins in bulk milk samples. Milk samples were collected from dairy farms in which corn silage was the main ingredient of the feeding system. The 45 bulk milk samples were previously analyzed for a detailed untargeted metabolomic profiling and classified into five clusters according to the corn silage contamination profile, namely: (1) low levels of Aspergillus- and Penicillium-mycotoxins; (2) low levels of fumonisins and other Fusarium-mycotoxins; (3) high levels of Aspergillus-mycotoxins; (4) high levels of non-regulated Fusarium-mycotoxins; (5) high levels of fumonisins and their metabolites. Multivariate statistics based on both unsupervised and supervised analyses were used to evaluate the significant fold-change variations of the main groups of mycotoxins detected when comparing milk samples from clusters 3, 4, and 5 (high contamination levels of the corn silages) with cluster 1 and 2 (low contamination levels of the corn silages). Overall, 14 compounds showed a significant prediction ability, with antibiotic Y (VIP score = 2.579), bikaverin (VIP score = 1.975) and fumonisin B2 (VIP score = 1.846) being the best markers. The k-means clustering combined with supervised statistics showed two discriminant groups of milk samples, thus revealing a hierarchically higher impact of the whole feeding system (rather than the only corn silages) together with other factors of variability on the final mycotoxin contamination profile. Among the discriminant metabolites we found some Fusarium mycotoxins, together with the tetrapeptide tentoxin (an Alternaria toxin), the α-zearalenol (a catabolite of zearalenone), mycophenolic acid and apicidin. These preliminary findings provide new insights into the potential role of UHPLC-HRMS to evaluate the contamination profile and the safety of raw milk to produce hard cheese.

High-throughput quantification of eighteen heterocyclic aromatic amines in roasted and pan-fried meat on the basis of high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry

Triple quadrupole mass spectrometry has been the main technique for HAAs analysis in recent decade, while it requires extensive optimization of compound-dependent parameters. A novel method based on HPLC-Q-Orbitrap-HRMS was developed firstly for simultaneous determination of eighteen HAAs. Extraction and purification conditions were optimized and the developed method was validated in terms of linearity, accuracy and precision. Results indicated eighteen HAAs and two internal standards could be separated in 12 min using a gradient elution program. The full MS/dd-MS² scan was adopted for analysis, which indicated favorable recoveries (71.3-114.8%) along with LODs and LOQs in the ranges of 0.02-0.6 and 0.05-2.0 μg/kg, respectively. Internal standards used for calibration could effectively reduce quantification errors produced by matrix effects. The validated method was successfully applied for HAAs analysis in roasted and pan-fried meat and was confirmed to be an alternative method when triple quadrupole mass spectrometry is absent in lab.

Aspergillus derived mycotoxins in food and the environment: Prevalence, detection, and toxicity

Aspergillus species are the paramount ubiquitous fungi that contaminate various food substrates and produce biochemicals known as mycotoxins. Aflatoxins (AFTs), ochratoxin A (OTA), patulin (PAT), citrinin (CIT), aflatrem (AT), secalonic acids (SA), cyclopiazonic acid (CPA), terrein (TR), sterigmatocystin (ST) and gliotoxin (GT), and other toxins produced by species of Aspergillus plays a major role in food and human health. Mycotoxins exhibited wide range of toxicity to the humans and animal models even at nanomolar (nM) concentration. Consumption of detrimental mycotoxins adulterated foodstuffs affects human and animal health even trace amounts. Bioaerosols consisting of spores and hyphal fragments are active elicitors of bronchial irritation and allergy, and challenging to the public health. Aspergillus is the furthermost predominant environmental contaminant unswervingly defile lives with a 40-90 % mortality risk in patients with conceded immunity. Genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics approaches useful for mycotoxins' detection which are expensive. Antibody based detection of toxins chemotypes may result in cross-reactivity and uncertainty. Aptamers (APT) are single stranded DNA (ssDNA/RNA), are specifically binds to the target molecules can be generated by systematic evolution of ligands through exponential enrichment (SELEX). APT are fast, sensitive, simple, in-expensive, and field-deployable rapid point of care (POC) detection of toxins, and a better alternative to antibodies.

Developments in mycotoxin analysis: an update for 2019-2020

This review summarises developments on the analysis of various matrices for mycotoxins published in the period from mid-2019 to mid-2020. Notable developments in all aspects of mycotoxin analysis, from sampling and quality assurance/quality control of analytical results, to the various detection and quantitation technologies ranging from single mycotoxin biosensors to comprehensive instrumental methods are presented and discussed. Aside from sampling and quality control, discussion of this past year’s developments is organised by detection and quantitation technology and covers chromatography with targeted or non-targeted high resolution mass spectrometry, tandem mass spectrometry, detection other than mass spectrometry, biosensors, as well as assays that use alternatives to antibodies. This critical review aims to briefly present the most important recent developments and trends in mycotoxin determination as well as to address limitations of the presented methodologies.

Toxic Effect of Aflatoxins in Dogs Fed Contaminated Commercial Dry Feed: A Review

Since its first patent (1897), commercial dry feed (CDF) for dogs has diversified its formulation to meet the nutritional needs of different breeds, age, or special conditions and establish a foundation for integration of these pets into urban lifestyles. The risk of aflatoxicosis in dogs has increased because the ingredients used to formulate CDF have also proliferated, making it difficult to ensure the quality required of each to achieve the safety of the entire CDF. This review contains a description of the fungi and aflatoxins detected in CDF and the ingredients commonly used for their formulation. The mechanisms of action and pathogenic effects of aflatoxins are outlined; as well as the clinical findings, and macroscopic and microscopic lesions found in aflatoxicosis in dogs. In addition, alternatives for diagnosis, treatment, and control of aflatoxins (AF) in CDF are analyzed, such as biomarkers of effect, improvement of blood coagulation, rate of elimination of AF, control of secondary infection, protection of gastric mucosa, reduction of oxidative stress, use of chemo-protectors, sequestrants, grain-free CDF, biocontrol, and maximum permitted limits, are also included.

Genetic Diversity, Ochratoxin A and Fumonisin Profiles of Strains of Aspergillus Section Nigri Isolated from Dried Vine Fruits

We investigated ochratoxin A (OTA) contamination in raisin samples purchased from Slovak markets and determined the diversity of black-spored aspergilli as potential OTA and fumonisin (FB1 and FB2) producers. The taxonomic identification was performed using sequences of the nuclear ITS1-5.8s-ITS2 region, the calmodulin and beta-tubulin genes. We obtained 239 isolates from eight fungal genera, of which 197 belonged to Aspergillus (82%) and 42 strains (18%) to other fungal genera. OTA contamination was evidenced in 75% of the samples and its level ranged from 0.8 to 10.6 µg/kg. The combination of all three markers used enabled unambiguous identification of A. carbonarius, A. luchuensis, A. niger, A. tubingensis and A. welwitschiae. The dominant coloniser, simultaneously having the highest within-species diversity isolated from our raisin samples, was A. tubingensis. Out of all analysed strains, only A. carbonarius was found to produce OTA, but in relatively high quantity (2477–4382 µg/kg). The production of FB1 and FB2 was evidenced in A. niger strains only.

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

Tree nuts have become popular snacks due to their attributed benefits in the health state. Nevertheless, their susceptibility to fungal contamination lead to the occurrence of potentially dangerous mycotoxins. Hence, the aim of this work was to evaluate the presence of mycotoxins in ready-to-eat almonds, walnuts, and pistachios from Italian markets. The most relevant mycotoxin found in almonds was α-zearalanol in 18% of samples (n = 17) ranging from 3.70 to 4.54 µg/kg. Walnut samples showed frequent contamination with alternariol, present in 53% of samples (n = 22) at levels from 0.29 to 1.65 µg/kg. Pistachios (n = 15) were the most contaminated commodity, with β-zearalenol as the most prevalent toxin present in 59% of samples ranging from 0.96 to 8.60 µg/kg. In the worst-case scenario, the exposure to zearalenone-derived forms accounted for 15.6% of the tolerable daily intake, whereas it meant 12.4% and 21.2% of the threshold of toxicological concern for alternariol and alternariol monomethyl-ether, respectively. The results highlighted the extensive presence of Alternaria toxins and zearalenone-derived forms, scarcely studied in ready-to-eat tree nut products, highlighting the necessity to include these mycotoxins in analytical methods to perform more realistic risk assessments.

A Review: Sample Preparation and Chromatographic Technologies for Detection of Aflatoxins in Foods

As a class of mycotoxins with regulatory and public health significance, aflatoxins (e.g., aflatoxin B1, B2, G1 and G2) have attracted unparalleled attention from government, academia and industry due to their chronic and acute toxicity. Aflatoxins are secondary metabolites of various Aspergillus species, which are ubiquitous in the environment and can grow on a variety of crops whereby accumulation is impacted by climate influences. Consumption of foods and feeds contaminated by aflatoxins are hazardous to human and animal health, hence the detection and quantification of aflatoxins in foods and feeds is a priority from the viewpoint of food safety. Since the first purification and identification of aflatoxins from feeds in the 1960s, there have been continuous efforts to develop sensitive and rapid methods for the determination of aflatoxins. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview on advances in aflatoxins analysis and highlights the importance of sample pretreatments, homogenization and various cleanup strategies used in the determination of aflatoxins. The use of liquid-liquid extraction (LLE), supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), solid phase extraction (SPE) and immunoaffinity column clean-up (IAC) and dilute and shoot for enhancing extraction efficiency and clean-up are discussed. Furthermore, the analytical techniques such as gas chromatography (GC), liquid chromatography (LC), mass spectrometry (MS), capillary electrophoresis (CE) and thin-layer chromatography (TLC) are compared in terms of identification, quantitation and throughput. Lastly, with the emergence of new techniques, the review culminates with prospects of promising technologies for aflatoxin analysis in the foreseeable future.

Target Quantification and Semi-Target Screening of Undesirable Substances in Pear Juices Using Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Quadrupole Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry

Fruit juices are common products in modern diets due to the supply of vegetal nutrients combined with its tastiness. Nevertheless, potential contaminants, such as mycotoxins and pesticides, can be present in commercial products due to a potential carry-over. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate for the first time the presence of 14 Fusarium mycotoxins using a quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS)-based extraction followed by an ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry in 21 pear juice samples from Italian markets. Up to nine different mycotoxins were detected, particularly an extensive presence of zearalenone (67%, n = 21, mean value = 0.88 ng/mL). Emerging Fusarium mycotoxins enniatins B, B1, A, and A1 were also detected. Additionally, 77 pesticide residues were tentatively identified through a retrospective analysis based on a mass spectral library. The prevalent presence of some non-approved pesticides, such as ethoxyquin (64%, n = 21) and triazophos (55%, n = 21), must be highlighted. The results obtained indicate an extensive contamination of marketed pear juice with undesirable compounds, and they should be taken into consideration when performing risk assessment studies.

Contamination of Pet Food with Mycobiota and Fusarium Mycotoxins-Focus on Dogs and Cats

A wide range of pet food types are available on the market; the dominant type is dry food formulated in croquets. One of the most common ingredients of dry food are cereals—vectors of harmful mycotoxins posing the risk to pet health. In this study, 38 cat and dog dry food samples available on the Polish market were investigated. Morphological and molecular methods were applied to identify fungal genera present in pet food. Quantification of ergosterol and Fusarium mycotoxins: Fumonisin B₁, deoxynivalenol, nivalenol, and zearalenone were performed using high performance liquid chromatography. Obtained results indicated five genera of mycotoxigenic fungi: Alternaria sp., Aspergillus sp., Cladosporium sp., Penicillium sp., and Fusarium sp., including Fusarium verticillioides and Fusarium proliferatum. Ergosterol and mycotoxins of interest were detected in both cat and dog food samples in the amounts ranging from 0.31 to 4.05 µg/g for ergosterol and 0.3–30.3, 1.2–618.4, 29.6–299.0, and 12.3–53.0 ng/g for zearalenone, deoxynivalenol, nivalenol, and fumonisin B₁, respectively. The conclusion is the presence of mycotoxins in levels much lower than recommended by EU regulations does not eliminate the risk and caution is advised concerning that long-term daily intake of even small doses of mycotoxins can slowly damage pet’s health.

Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Quadrupole Orbitrap High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry for Multi-Residue Analysis of Mycotoxins and Pesticides in Botanical Nutraceuticals

Cannabidiol (CBD) food supplements made of Cannabis sativa L. extracts have quickly become popular products due to their health-promoting effects. However, potential contaminants, such as mycotoxins and pesticides, can be coextracted during the manufacturing process and placed into the final product. Accordingly, a novel methodology using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS) was developed to quantify 16 mycotoxins produced by major C. sativa fungi, followed by a post-target screening of 283 pesticides based on a comprehensive spectral library. The validated procedure was applied to ten CBD-based products. Up to six different Fusarium mycotoxins were found in seven samples, the most prevalent being zearalenone (60%) and enniatin B1 (30%), both found at a maximum level of 11.6 ng/g. Co-occurrence was observed in four samples, including one with enniatin B1, enniatin A and enniatin A1. On the other hand, 46 different pesticides were detected after retrospective analysis. Ethoxyquin (50%), piperonyl butoxide (40%), simazine (30%) and cyanazine (30%) were the major residues found. These results highlight the necessity of monitoring contaminants in food supplements in order to ensure a safe consumption, even more considering the increase trend in their use. Furthermore, the developed procedure is proposed as a powerful analytical tool to evaluate the potential mycotoxin profile of these particular products.