ABSTRACT
Rice is one of the crops, which are prone to be contaminated with toxigenic fungi and their mycotoxins. This study aimed to investigate the natural occurrence of T-2 toxin in domestic and imported rice in Iran. In a cross-sectional descriptive study in winter 2007, 140 samples of imported rice [125 samples of Thai and 25 samples of Pakistani rice] and 60 samples of Iranian rice were collected from warehouses of canteens of governmental offices in Tehran. After grinding and methanol extraction of the rice samples, the amount of T-2 toxin was measured using a sandwich ELISA. INSTATA statistical software was used for data analysis. All samples of rice were more or less contaminated with T-2 toxin but the amount did not exceed the permissible limit. Mean contamination of domestic and imported rice was 11.2 +/- 2.3 and 13 +/- 2.7 micro g/kg, respectively. Regarding imported rice, mean of contamination was 14.5 +/- 4.6 micro g/kg for the Pakistani rice and 12.6 +/- 2.2 micro g/kg for the Thai rice. There was no significant difference between domestic and imported rice, nor did we find a meaningful difference among Iranian, Pakistani and Thai rice regarding the amount of contamination [P= 0.2]. Although the amount of contamination is less than the safe limit, the extent of natural occurrence of T-2 toxin in rice in Iran indicates that contamination occurs somewhere in the production process. This, in turn, necessitates screening of rice for contamination with mycotoxins from farm to table