Presence of trichothecenes and co-occurrence in cereal-based food from Catalonia (Spain)

The most important trichothecenes are HT-2 toxin (HT2) and T-2 toxin (T2) from type A and deoxynivalenol (DON) from type B. Thus, the aim of the current study was to assess the occurrence of these trichothecenes in the Catalonian market. 479 food samples were taken from the most susceptible to trichothecenes contamination and most commonly consumed in Catalonia commodities. DON, T2 and HT2 toxin were determined in breakfast cereals, snacks and pasta samples following extraction, clean-up, derivatization and finally analysis by GC–ECD. Moreover, these mycotoxins were determined in sliced bread, sweet corn and beer by LC–DAD. Our results showed that DON was the main trichothecene present in the cereal-based food from Catalonian market with percentages of positive samples ranging from 1.4 to 100.0%. Despite the high incidence of DON, only five samples were above EU limits. Concerning HT2 toxin, it was present in a low percentage of samples of sliced bread (15.3%), wheat flakes (14.8%), pasta (10.0%), corn snacks (8.5%), sweet corn (6.9%) and corn flakes (6.2%), while the T2 toxin only was quantified in 5 samples out of the total 479.