Stability of deoxynivalenol in heat-treated foods.

The effects of high-temperature and -pressure processing of foods spiked with deoxynivalenol (DON) were examined. In extruded corn grits, extruded dry dog food, and autoclaved moist dog food, there were no significant reductions (P < 0.05) in DON after processing. Autoclaved cream-style corn showed a reduction in DON of only 12%. Overall, DON was stabile to the high temperature and pressure processes tested. The use of an alpha-amylase in the extraction method for analysis by an enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) improved the recovery of DON from the spiked extruded and autoclaved products by as much as 26% over the standard ELISA method.