Mycotoxin Occurrence and Risk Assessment in Gluten-Free Pasta through UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap MS

Josefa Tolosa; Yelko Rodríguez-Carrasco; Giulia Graziani; Anna Gaspari; Emilia Ferrer; Jordi Mañes; Alberto Ritieni

doi:10.3390/toxins13050305

Toxins (Apr 2021)

Mycotoxin Occurrence and Risk Assessment in Gluten-Free Pasta through UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap MS

Josefa Tolosa,
Yelko Rodríguez-Carrasco,
Giulia Graziani,
Anna Gaspari,
Emilia Ferrer,
Jordi Mañes,
Alberto Ritieni

Affiliations

Josefa Tolosa: Department of Food Chemistry and Toxicology, University of Valencia, Av. Vicent A. Estellés s/n, Burjassot, 46100 Valencia, Spain
Yelko Rodríguez-Carrasco: Department of Food Chemistry and Toxicology, University of Valencia, Av. Vicent A. Estellés s/n, Burjassot, 46100 Valencia, Spain
Giulia Graziani: Department of Pharmacy, Università di Napoli Federico II, Via D. Montesano, 80131 Napoli, Italy
Anna Gaspari: Department of Pharmacy, Università di Napoli Federico II, Via D. Montesano, 80131 Napoli, Italy
Emilia Ferrer: Department of Food Chemistry and Toxicology, University of Valencia, Av. Vicent A. Estellés s/n, Burjassot, 46100 Valencia, Spain
Jordi Mañes: Department of Food Chemistry and Toxicology, University of Valencia, Av. Vicent A. Estellés s/n, Burjassot, 46100 Valencia, Spain
Alberto Ritieni: Department of Pharmacy, Università di Napoli Federico II, Via D. Montesano, 80131 Napoli, Italy

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13050305
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 13, no. 5
p. 305

Abstract

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Celiac disease (CD) is a genetic-based autoimmune disorder which is characterized by inflammation in the small intestinal mucosa due to the intolerance to gluten. Celiac people should consume products without gluten, which are elaborated mainly with maize or other cereals. Contamination of cereals with mycotoxins, such as fumonisins (FBs) and aflatoxins (AFs) is frequently reported worldwide. Therefore, food ingestion is the main source of mycotoxin exposure. A new analytical method was developed and validated for simultaneous analysis of 21 mycotoxins in gluten-free pasta, commonly consumed by celiac population as an alternative to conventional pasta. Ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap MS) was used for analyte separation and detection. The mycotoxins included in this work were those widely reported to occur in cereal samples, namely, ochratoxin-A (OTA), aflatoxins (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2), zearalenone (ZON), deoxynivalenol (DON), 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol and 15-acetyl-deoxynivalenol (3-AcDON and 15-AcDON, respectively), nivalenol (NIV), neosolaniol (NEO), fusarenone-X, (FUS-X), T-2 toxin (T-2) and HT-2 toxin (HT-2), fumonisin B1 and B2 (FB1 and FB2, respectively), enniatins (ENN A, ENN A1, ENN B and ENN B1) and beauvericin (BEA). The validated method was successfully applied to 84 gluten-free pasta samples collected from several local markets of Campania region (Italy) during September to November 2020 to monitor the occurrence of mycotoxins and to assess the exposure to these food contaminants. A significant number of samples (95%) showed mycotoxin contamination, being Fusarium mycotoxins (FB1, ZON and DON) the most commonly detected ones. Regarding the risk assessment, the higher exposures were obtained for NIV, DON and FB1 for children and teenagers age group which can be explained due to their lower body weight.

Published in Toxins

ISSN: 2072-6651 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Medicine
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/toxins/

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