Fumonisin occurrence in naturally contaminated wheat grain harvested in Argentina

Abstract

A survey was carried out to determine fumonisin contamination in 135 common and 40 durum wheat samples collected during 2011 harvest season (non-FHB epidemic year) in the main wheat production area of Argentina using LC–MS/MS. A 93% of total samples showed fumonisin contamination, with levels ranging from 0.16 to 680.44 ng/g in common and from 0.15 to 1304.39 ng/g in durum wheat samples, respectively. FB1 was the fumonisin most frequently found during the evaluated year. Twenty five wheat samples (15 common and 10 durum) were selected for a deoxynivalenol (DON) analysis among all the samples analyzed for fumonisin content using different contamination levels as selection criteria. DON contamination was present in 24 out of 25 wheat samples, the levels ranging from 50.60 to 28650 ng/g. Nine out of 25 wheat samples reached values higher than 1000 ng/g. However there was no correlation between fumonisin and DON contamination. This is the first report of natural fumonisin presence in common wheat grains in Argentina, as well as of DON co-occurrence in both types of wheat.