Natural occurrence of Alternaria mycotoxins in malting barley grains in the main producing region of Argentina

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of themost important cereals worldwide, and its quality is affected by fungalcontamination such as species of the genus Alternaria.No information is available about the occurrence of Alternaria mycotoxinsin Argentinean barley grains, which is of concern, because they can be transferred into malt and beer. The aim of this study wasto analyze the occurrence of alternariol (AOH), alternariol monomethyl ether (AME) and tenuazonic acid (TeA) in malting barleygrains fromthe main producing region of Argentina during the 2014 and 2015 growing seasons.RESULTS: Themost frequentmycotoxin was AOH (64%), which was detected at higher levels (712 gkg−1) comparedwith otherstudies, followed by TeA (37%, 1522 gkg−1), while AME was present in five samples in the 2015 growing season only, with ameanof 4876 gkg−1.Asimilar frequency ofmycotoxin occurrencewas observed in both years (80.8 vs 85.3%), but more diversecontamination was found in 2015, which was characterized by lower accumulated precipitation. Nevertheless, AOH was morefrequently found in 2014 than in 2015 (80.8 and 47.1% respectively). A negative correlation between AOH concentration andtemperaturewas observed. The susceptibility of different barley varieties tomycotoxin accumulation varied with themycotoxin,geographical location and meteorological conditions.CONCLUSION: The results obtained in the present work represent a tool for risk assessment of exposition to these mycotoxinsand could be used by food safety authorities to determine the need for their regulation. Furthermore, the establishment of ahazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) system tominimize fungal andmycotoxin contamination in barley from farmto processing could be apply to ensure food safety.