[Zearalenone in food]. / Zearalenon in Lebensmitteln.

The research project "Methods of Analysis and occurrence of important Fusarium toxins (deoxynivalenol and zearalenone) as well as the intake of these toxins by the German consumer" supported by the Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture (BMVEL) is processed by the institutions mentioned above. This work represents a comprehensive summary of the contamination of food by zearalenone (ZEA).

[Deoxynivalenol in food]. / Deoxynivalenol in Lebensmitteln.

Within a joint research project entitled "Analysis and occurrence of importantFusarium toxins (deoxynivalenol and zearalenone) and dietary intake of these toxins by the German consumer", supported by the German Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture (BMVEL), representative analytical data are generated on the contamination level of foods withFusarium mycotoxins. This paper gives a comprehensive summary concerning the contamination of foods from the German market with deoxynivalenol (DON) in the period from August 2001 to April 2004. More than 4700 food samples (mostly cereals and cereal-containing foods) were purchased from food shops in Germany and analysed for DON by enzyme immunoassay, HPLC, and LC-MS/MS, respectively. All analytical methods were validated through intra- and interlaboratory studies and gave mean recoveries of >80% for each matrix. Although DON was detected with high frequency in all cerealcontaining samples, the mean and median levels were in most products well below the recently established maximum permitted limits in Germany.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) in hartweizen.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) in Durum Wheat High contamination levels of deoxynivalenol (DON) were found during an investigation of noodles in 2001 and initiated an additional survey of Durum wheat used as raw material for these products. Analyses of 53 samples of Durum wheat by HPLC revealed 89% positives and a median concentration of 790 ug/kg, which clearly exceeded the EU action level of 500 µg/kg. Based on these findings, producers increased quality controls on Durum wheat. In 2002 a total of 60 samples were analysed and 85% positives found. The median, however, lay at 215 µg/kg, below a probable maximum level of 500 µg/kg and demonstrated the positive efforts of food producers to decrease the contamination levels of DON in pasta products.

[Determination of citrinin in cereals]. / Bestimmung von Citrinin in Getreide.

A simultaneous reversed-phase HPLC determination of citrinin and ochratoxin A in cereals is proposed. Both mycotoxins are eluted on a RP-amid C16 column using a gradient eluent acidified with phosphoric acid. The limits of detection, for a signal-to-background ratio of 3, are 1 µg/kg for citrinin and 0,4 µg/kg for ochratoxin A.

[Not Available]. / Bestimmung von fumonisinen in lebensmitteln - methodenvergleich.

In german food control laboratories fumonisins mostly are analysed by HPLC with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD; with immunoaffinity cleanup) or HPLC-MS/MS (without any cleanup), while cattle feed is often analysed by ELISA for fumonisin FB1. 17 samples of corn flour (11 samples) and corn grit (6 samples) were analysed by the three different methods in order to rate the use of ELISA in public authority food control. Moreover ELISA cross reactions of fumonisins FB2, FB3, hFB1 and hFB2 were determined in order to quantify the influence of these reactions on ELISA results.The comparison showed that HPLC-MS/MS always gave higher contents than HPLC-FLD (20% up to 40%). That only can be explained by losses of fumonisins in the cleanup step of HPLC-FLD. In comparison with that there is a good correlation between HPLC-MS/MS results and ELISA results if the cross reactions are considered.As conclusion the ELISA can be used alternatively as a fast but sometimes even expensive screening method for determination of fumonisins.

[Not Available]. / Fusarientoxine (DON und ZEA) in Mehl und Brot.

Because of their potential health risk the amount of the Fusariumtoxins deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEA) is an important quality parameter for cereals.With regard to the fact that in the european union limiting values for these Fusarium-toxins are discussed, the analysis of cerealfood from the market makes sense in order to get a realistic image of the load of consumers. Cereals mainly get in human food chain in form of bread and other bakery products. Publications about evaluation of the influence of the breadmaking process (removal or destruction of mycotoxins by fermentation and heating) are rare and sometimes give contrary results. [3, 4]Our food control laboratory started a monitoring program in order to get more informations about the influence of this bread-making process. Therefore bread and the flours the bread made of are taken from bakeries in district of Tübingen (Germany). First results are presented.

[Not Available]. / Bestimmung der Fumonisine FB1 und FB 2 sowie ihrer hydrolisierten Metaboliten mittels HPLC-ESI-MS.

A rapid determination of fumonisins FB1, FB2 and hydrolyzed fumonisins HFB1, HFB2 in maize products is possible by application of high-performance liquid chromatography in combination with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS). Without any additional clean up or purification of the sample extract a quantitation limit of 20 µg/kg sample with a signal to noise ratio of 10∶1 was observed.

[Not Available]. / Fusarientoxine (DON und ZEA) in Lebensmitteln.

Different methods were tested to analyse the Fusarium-toxins DON and ZEA for application in routine analysis in a food control laboratory of Baden-Württemberg. Samples of different foods from the market were analysed.

[Not Available]. / Aflatoxine in Verarbeitungserzeugnissen von Pistazien.

In addition to roasted pistachios other products, e.g. pastes for the production of ice-cream, were analyzed at CVUA Sigmaringen. A relative high contamination was found in some cases.

[The problem of selective determination of PSP toxins in mussels]. / Zur Problematik der selektiven Erfassung von PSP-Toxinen aus Muscheln.

Levels of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins in shellfish are routinely determined by mouse bioassay. In order to improve the qualitative and quantitative determination of PSP toxins, chromatographic techniques with fluorescence detection have been developed. These HPLC methods and the HPLC/MS coupling were used to determine a second PSP toxin which was found, in addition to saxitoxin, in canned Spanish mussels. These canned mussels were rejected in 1986 by the German food control because PSP concentrations were too high. It has been shown that these samples contained mainly dc-saxitoxin.