A survey of the occurrence of the mycotoxin moniliformin in cereal samples from sources worldwide

Abstract

A method is reported for the determination of the Fusarium mycotoxin moniliformin in cereals. The samples after extraction with acetonitrile/water are cleaned‐up on a combination of reverse‐phase and strong‐anion exchange disposable cartridge columns. The extract is then analysed by ion‐pair HPLC with UV detection. The method gave recoveries from 81 to 96% and a limit of detection of 0.05 mg/kg. A UK survey of 36 samples of maize products (principally meal and flour) generally showed detectable but low levels of contamination ranging from 0.05 to 0.25 mg/kg (with the exception of three samples where moniliformin levels were < 0.05 mg/kg). Sixty‐four samples of maize from ten different countries showed generally higher levels of moniliformin contamination, with samples from Gambia and South Africa containing 3.16 and 2.73 mg/kg respectively. Field samples of maize, oats, wheat, rye and tricticale that were hand‐selected as showing signs of visible fungal damage were obtained from Poland. Moniliformin was consistently present at high levels with amounts ranging from 0.5 to 38.3 mg/kg being associated with F. avenaceum contamination and amounts ranging from 4.2 to 399·3 mg/kg being associated with the presence of F. subglutinans.