Co-occurrence of multiple mycotoxins in dry chilli (Capsicum annum L.) samples from the markets of Sri Lanka and Belgium

In this study a multi-mycotoxin method was applied to screen seventeen chemically divergent mycotoxins from dry chilli samples (Capsicum annum L.) collected from the markets in Sri Lanka (n = 86) and Belgium (n = 35) using a high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometer. In addition to aflatoxins (<LOQ–687 μg/kg) and ochratoxin A (OTA; <LOQ–282 μg/kg), the chilli samples were also found to be contaminated with sterigmatocystin (STERIG; <LOQ–32 μg/kg), fumonisin B2 (FB2; <LOQ–87 μg/kg), citrinin (<LOQ–2.1 mg/kg) and alternariol methyl ether (70 and 222 μg/kg). Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) was the predominant mycotoxin contaminating almost 77% of the Sri Lankan samples. While OTA was found in 41% of the samples notably, 38% of them were contaminated with STERIG. Overall, 87% and 63% of the Sri Lankan and Belgian samples, respectively were contaminated at least with one mycotoxin. Remarkably, 67% of the Sri Lankan samples exceeded EU maximum level (ML) of 5 μg/kg for AFB1 and 44% of the samples exceeded the EU ML of 10 μg/kg for total aflatoxins. One third of the Sri Lankan chillies were contaminated with more than three different mycotoxins. Co-occurrence of different mycotoxins, AFB1–OTA (36%), AFB1–STERIG (28%), OTA–AFB1–STERIG (17%) and AFB1–FB2 (14%) was found in different forms of chillies. Higher frequency of mycotoxins co-occurrence found in the processed chillies such as flakes and powder could be due to the fraudulent usage of low quality grade chilli pods for processing. Noticeably, 9 of the 11 positive chilli samples from Belgium exceeded the EU ML for AFB1.