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Toxins
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Mycotoxins in Feed, Food, Nutraceuticals, and Functional Food
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Mycotoxins in Feed, Food, Nutraceuticals, and Functional Food

A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651). This special issue belongs to the section "Mycotoxins".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2023) | Viewed by 22820

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Luana Izzo

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Guest Editor
Department of Pharmacy, University of Naples "Federico II", Via Domenico Montesano, 49, 80131 Naples, Italy
Interests: analytical method development; high-performance liquid chromatography; mass spectrometry; orbitrap approach; retrospective analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Luigi Castaldo

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Guest Editor
Department of Pharmacy, University of Naples "Federico II", Via Domenico Montesano, 49 80131 Naples, Italy
Interests: mycotoxins; antioxidants; bioactive compounds; polyphenols; mass spectrometry; waste and byproduct valorization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Mattia Spano

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Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry and Technology of Drugs, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Interests: sample preparation; extraction protocols development; metabolomics; food analysis; nuclear magnetic resonance; high-performance liquid chromatography
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Mycotoxins are a class of harmful secondary metabolites produced by fungi belonging to the Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, and Alternaria genera that could contaminate food and raw materials. Mycotoxins are extremely stable under food and feed processing conditions, posing a serious challenge to the food and feed industry. These toxic compounds have a wide spectrum of harmful human health consequences, including hepatotoxic, carcinogenic, teratogenic, nephrotoxic, and reproductive effects, among others.

To limit exposure to mycotoxins, researchers all around the world are working to find innovative extraction protocols and analytical methods for the rapid detection of mycotoxin contamination in both food and feed supply chains. Managing the risk of mycotoxin contamination in food and feed requires the application of sensitive analytical tools and procedures. Techniques based on high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) coupled with gas chromatography or liquid chromatography for the development of multi-mycotoxin methodologies appear to be the most promising approaches for successfully detecting and quantifying mycotoxins.

In this Special Issue on “Mycotoxins in Feed, Food, Nutraceuticals, and Functional Food”, papers describing the worldwide occurrence of mycotoxins in various commodities are welcome, as are papers on the occurrence and co-occurrence of mycotoxins in human food, nutraceuticals, dietary supplements, and animal feed or relating to novel methodology for the analysis of mycotoxins in food and feed, as well as evaluation of reliable mycotoxins extraction procedures. We look forward to receiving your contributions to this Special Issue in the form of original research, case studies, or review papers, shedding light on perspectives on the occurrence and control of mycotoxins in different commodities and risk assessment.

Dr. Luana Izzo
Dr. Luigi Castaldo
Dr. Mattia Spano
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxins is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • mycotoxins
  • food contaminants
  • method development
  • mass spectrometry
  • secondary metabolites
  • diet supplements
  • occurrence
  • retrospective analysis

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

53 pages, 8232 KiB  
Article
Natural Antioxidant By-Product Mixture Counteracts the Effects of Aflatoxin B1 and Ochratoxin A Exposure of Piglets after Weaning: A Proteomic Survey on Liver Microsomal Fraction
by Roua Gabriela Popescu, George Cătălin Marinescu, Andreea Luminița Rădulescu, Daniela Eliza Marin, Ionelia Țăranu and Anca Dinischiotu
Toxins 2023, 15(4), 299; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins15040299 - 19 Apr 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2780
Abstract
Mycotoxins are toxic compounds produced by certain strains of fungi that can contaminate raw feed materials. Once ingested, even in small doses, they cause multiple health issues for animals and, downstream, for people consuming meat. It was proposed that inclusion of antioxidant-rich plant-derived [...] Read more.
Mycotoxins are toxic compounds produced by certain strains of fungi that can contaminate raw feed materials. Once ingested, even in small doses, they cause multiple health issues for animals and, downstream, for people consuming meat. It was proposed that inclusion of antioxidant-rich plant-derived feed might diminish the harmful effects of mycotoxins, maintaining the farm animals’ health and meat quality for human consumption. This work investigates the large scale proteomic effects on piglets’ liver of aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A mycotoxins and the potential compensatory effects of grapeseed and sea buckthorn meal administration as dietary byproduct antioxidants against mycotoxins’ damage. Forty cross-bred TOPIGS-40 hybrid piglets after weaning were assigned to three (n = 10) experimental groups (A, M, AM) and one control group (C) and fed with experimental diets for 30 days. After 4 weeks, liver samples were collected, and the microsomal fraction was isolated. Unbiased label-free, library-free, data-independent acquisition (DIA) mass spectrometry SWATH methods were able to relatively quantify 1878 proteins from piglets’ liver microsomes, confirming previously reported effects on metabolism of xenobiotics by cytochrome P450, TCA cycle, glutathione synthesis and use, and oxidative phosphorylation. Pathways enrichment revealed that fatty acid metabolism, steroid biosynthesis, regulation of actin cytoskeleton, regulation of gene expression by spliceosomes, membrane trafficking, peroxisome, thermogenesis, retinol, pyruvate, and amino acids metabolism pathways are also affected by the mycotoxins. Antioxidants restored expression level of proteins PRDX3, AGL, PYGL, fatty acids biosynthesis, endoplasmic reticulum, peroxisome, amino acid synthesis pathways, and, partially, OXPHOS mitochondrial subunits. However, excess of antioxidants might cause significant changes in CYP2C301, PPP4R4, COL18A1, UBASH3A, and other proteins expression levels. Future analysis of proteomics data corelated to animals growing performance and meat quality studies are necessary. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins in Feed, Food, Nutraceuticals, and Functional Food)
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10 pages, 526 KiB  
Article
Incidence and Levels of Aflatoxin M1 in Artisanal and Manufactured Cheese in Pernambuco State, Brazil
by Isabela Maria de Moura Silva, Adriano Gomes da Cruz, Sher Ali, Lucas Gabriel Dionisio Freire, Luzianna Macedo Fonseca, Roice Eliana Rosim, Carlos Humberto Corassin, Rodrigo Barbosa Acioli de Oliveira and Carlos Augusto Fernandes de Oliveira
Toxins 2023, 15(3), 182; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins15030182 - 28 Feb 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3202
Abstract
Cheese is one of the most susceptible dairy foods to accumulating aflatoxins due to their high affinity to caseins. The consumption of cheese contaminated with high levels of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) can be highly harmful to humans. The present work, [...] Read more.
Cheese is one of the most susceptible dairy foods to accumulating aflatoxins due to their high affinity to caseins. The consumption of cheese contaminated with high levels of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) can be highly harmful to humans. The present work, based on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), highlights the frequency and levels of AFM1 in coalho and mozzarella cheese samples (n = 28) from the main cheese-processing plants in Araripe Sertão and Agreste in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. Of the evaluated cheeses, 14 samples were artisanal cheeses and the remaining 14 were industrial (manufactured) cheeses. All samples (100%) had detectable levels of AFM1, with concentrations ranging from 0.026 to 0.132 µg/kg. Higher levels (p < 0.05) of AFM1 were observed in artisanal mozzarella cheeses, but none of the cheese samples exceed the maximum permissible limits (MPLs) of 2.5 µg/kg established for AFM1 in cheese in Brazil and 0.25 µg/kg in the European countries by the European Union (EU). The high incidence of low levels of AFM1 found in the evaluated cheeses underscores the need for stringent control measures to prevent this mycotoxin in milk used for cheese production in the study area, with the aim of protecting public health and reducing significant economic losses for producers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins in Feed, Food, Nutraceuticals, and Functional Food)
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12 pages, 638 KiB  
Article
Determination of Regulated and Emerging Mycotoxins in Organic and Conventional Gluten-Free Flours by LC-MS/MS
by Zoe Giannioti, Beatriz Albero, María Dolores Hernando, Luana Bontempo and Rosa Ana Pérez
Toxins 2023, 15(2), 155; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins15020155 - 14 Feb 2023
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3590
Abstract
Gluten-free cereal products have grown in popularity in recent years as they are perceived as “healthier” alternatives and can be safely consumed by celiac patients, and people with gluten intolerance or wheat allergies. Molds that produce mycotoxins contaminate cereal crops, posing a threat [...] Read more.
Gluten-free cereal products have grown in popularity in recent years as they are perceived as “healthier” alternatives and can be safely consumed by celiac patients, and people with gluten intolerance or wheat allergies. Molds that produce mycotoxins contaminate cereal crops, posing a threat to global food security. Maximum levels have been set for certain mycotoxins in cereal flours; however, little is known about the levels of emerging mycotoxins in these flours. The aim of this study was to develop an efficient, sensitive, and selective method for the detection of four emerging (beauvericin and enniatins A1, B, and B1) and three regulated (aflatoxin B1, zearalenone, and deoxynivalenol) mycotoxins in gluten-free flours. Ultrasound-assisted matrix solid-phase dispersion was used in the extraction of these mycotoxins from flour samples. The validated method was utilized for the LC-MS/MS analysis of conventional and organic wholegrain oat and rice flours. Six of the seven target mycotoxins were detected in these samples. Multi-mycotoxin contamination was found in all flour types, particularly in conventional wholegrain oat flour. Despite the low detection frequency in rice flour, one sample was found to contain zearalenone at a concentration of 83.2 μg/kg, which was higher than the level set by the European Commission for cereal flours. The emerging mycotoxins had the highest detection frequencies; enniatin B was present in 53% of the samples at a maximum concentration of 56 μg/kg, followed by enniatin B1 and beauvericin, which were detected in 46% of the samples, and at levels reaching 21 μg/kg and 10 μg/kg, respectively. These results highlight the need to improve the current knowledge and regulations on the presence of mycotoxins, particularly emerging ones, in gluten-free flours and cereal-based products. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins in Feed, Food, Nutraceuticals, and Functional Food)
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12 pages, 637 KiB  
Article
Multi-Mycotoxin Method Development Using Ultra-High Liquid Chromatography with Orbitrap High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry Detection in Breakfast Cereals from the Campania Region, Italy
by Alfonso Narváez, Luana Izzo, Luigi Castaldo, Sonia Lombardi, Yelko Rodríguez-Carrasco and Alberto Ritieni
Toxins 2023, 15(2), 148; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins15020148 - 12 Feb 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1850
Abstract
Breakfast cereals have been reported as one of the most susceptible cereal-based products to mycotoxin contamination. These products pose an even more concerning risk to human health since they are marketed as a ready-to-eat product and one of its main population targets is [...] Read more.
Breakfast cereals have been reported as one of the most susceptible cereal-based products to mycotoxin contamination. These products pose an even more concerning risk to human health since they are marketed as a ready-to-eat product and one of its main population targets is children. Therefore, the main goal of the present study was to conduct a monitoring study of multiple mycotoxins contained in breakfast cereals samples marketed in Italy through ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution Q-Orbitrap tandem mass spectrometry. An acetonitrile-based methodology was validated for quantifying 24 mycotoxins in breakfast cereals. The results showed that 93% of the samples contained at least one mycotoxin. Beauvericin was the most prevalent toxin (86% of samples; mean concentration: 30.66 µg/kg), although the main enniatins, zearalenone-derived forms and fumonisins B1 and B2 were also detected. Co-occurrence was observed in 73% of the positive samples with up to five mycotoxins simultaneously occurring, mainly due to the combination of beauvericin and enniatins. These results provided more evidence about the high impact of non-regulated mycotoxins, such as the emerging Fusarium toxins, in breakfast cereals, and encourages the development of analytical methodologies including these and zearalenone-derived forms that could be going unnoticed with current methodologies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins in Feed, Food, Nutraceuticals, and Functional Food)
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13 pages, 2502 KiB  
Article
Mycotoxin Production and the Relationship between Microbial Diversity and Mycotoxins in Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd cv. Huangguan Pear
by Huimin Li, Yang Zhang, Congcong Gao, Qi Gao, Yudou Cheng, Min Zhao and Junfeng Guan
Toxins 2022, 14(10), 699; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins14100699 - 11 Oct 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2362
Abstract
Mycotoxins are generated by a series of fungal pathogens in postharvest fruit, resulting in serious health threat to consumers and great economic loss to the fruit storage industry. The microbial differences between rotten and healthy fruit during storage and their relationship with mycotoxin [...] Read more.
Mycotoxins are generated by a series of fungal pathogens in postharvest fruit, resulting in serious health threat to consumers and great economic loss to the fruit storage industry. The microbial differences between rotten and healthy fruit during storage and their relationship with mycotoxin production have not been fully studied. In this study, differences in microbial diversity between rotten and healthy fruit after 30 days of storage at ambient temperature were investigated using high-throughput sequencing technology in ‘Huangguan’ pear (Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd cv. Huangguan) harvested from five different producing regions of Hebei province, China. The bacterial genus Gluconobacter was much more abundant in rotten fruit (76.24%) than that in healthy fruit (32.36%). In addition, Komagataeibacter and Acetobacter were also relatively higher in abundance in rotten fruit. In contrast, bacterial genera Pantoea, Alistipes, Muribaculaceae, Lactobacillus, and Ruminococcaceae_UCG were found to be more abundant in healthy fruit. Fungal genera including Botryosphaeria, Colletotrichum, Valsa, Alternaria, Rosellinia, Fusarium, and Trichothecium were found to be abundant in rotten fruit. The results of principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) showed that there were significant differences in the microbial diversity of different regions. PAT (patulin) was detected in all rotten fruit samples, while tenuazonic acid (TeA), alternariol (AOH), and alternariolmonomethyl ether (AME) were only detected in samples collected from one region (Weixian). Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and Pearson correlation analysis showed that the abundance of Alistipes and Pantoea were negatively correlated with the contents of PAT, suggesting that bacterial genera Alistipes and Pantoea have potential in reducing mycotoxin production in ‘Huangguan’ pear. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins in Feed, Food, Nutraceuticals, and Functional Food)
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18 pages, 2620 KiB  
Article
Searching for the Fusarium spp. Which Are Responsible for Trichothecene Contamination in Oats. Using Metataxonomy to Compare the Distribution of Toxigenic Species in Fields from Spain and the UK
by Jéssica Gil-Serna, Belén Patiño, Carol Verheecke-Vaessen, Covadonga Vázquez and Ángel Medina
Toxins 2022, 14(9), 592; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins14090592 - 28 Aug 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4031
Abstract
The contamination of oats with Fusarium toxins poses a high risk for food safety. Among them, trichothecenes are the most frequently reported in European oats, especially in northern countries. The environmental conditions related to the climate change scenario might favour a distribution shift [...] Read more.
The contamination of oats with Fusarium toxins poses a high risk for food safety. Among them, trichothecenes are the most frequently reported in European oats, especially in northern countries. The environmental conditions related to the climate change scenario might favour a distribution shift in Fusarium species and the presence of these toxins in Southern European countries. In this paper, we present an ambitious work to determine the species responsible for trichothecene contamination in Spanish oats and to compare the results in the United Kingdom (UK) using a metataxonomic approach applied to both oat grains and soil samples collected from both countries. Regarding T-2 and HT-2 toxin producers, F. langsethiae was detected in 38% and 25% of the oat samples from the UK and Spain, respectively, and to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the detection of this fungus in oats from Spain. The relevant type B trichothecene producer, F. poae, was the most frequently detected Fusarium species in oats from both origins. Other important trichothecene producers, such as the Fusarium tricinctum species complex or Fusarium cerealis, were also frequently detected in oat fields. Many Fusarium toxins, including T-2 and HT-2 toxins, deoxynivalenol, or nivalenol, were detected in oat samples. The results obtained in this work revealed a clear change in the distribution of trichothecene producers and the necessity to establish the potential of these species to colonize oats and their ability to produce mycotoxins. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins in Feed, Food, Nutraceuticals, and Functional Food)
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18 pages, 1352 KiB  
Article
Fungal Species and Multi-Mycotoxin Associated with Post-Harvest Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) Grain in Eastern Ethiopia
by Abdi Mohammed, Zelalem Bekeko, Mawardi Yusufe, Michael Sulyok and Rudolf Krska
Toxins 2022, 14(7), 473; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins14070473 - 11 Jul 2022
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4217
Abstract
Sorghum is the main staple food crop in developing countries, including Ethiopia. However, sorghum grain quantity and quality are affected by contaminating fungi both under field and post-harvest stage. The aim of the current study was to assessed fungal species and multi-mycotoxins associated [...] Read more.
Sorghum is the main staple food crop in developing countries, including Ethiopia. However, sorghum grain quantity and quality are affected by contaminating fungi both under field and post-harvest stage. The aim of the current study was to assessed fungal species and multi-mycotoxins associated with sorghum grain in post-harvest samples collected from eastern Ethiopia. Fungal genera of Aspergillus, Alternaria, Bipolaris, Fusarium, Mucor, Penicillium, and Rhizoctonia were recovered in the infected grain. A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) was used for quantification of multiple mycotoxins/fungal metabolites. Overall, 94 metabolites were detected and grouped into eight categories. All metabolites were detected either in one or more samples. Among major mycotoxins and derivatives, deoxynivalenol (137 μg/kg), zearalenone (121 μg/kg), ochratoxin A (115 μg/kg), and fumonisin B1 (112 μg/kg) were detected with maximum concentrations, while aflatoxin B1 had relatively lower concentrations (23.6 μg/kg). Different emerging mycotoxins were also detected, with tenuazonic acid (1515 μg/kg) occurring at the maximum concentration among Alternaria metabolites. Fusaric acid (2786 μg/kg) from Fusarium metabolites and kojic acid (4584 μg/kg) were detected with the maximum concentration among Fusarium and Aspergillus metabolites, respectively. Unspecific metabolites were recognized with neoechinulin A (1996 μg/kg) at the maximum concentration, followed by cyclo (L-Pro-L-Tyr) (574 μg/kg) and cyclo (L-Pro-L-Val) (410 μg/kg). Moreover, metabolites form other fungal genera and bacterial metabolites were also detected at varying levels. Apparently, the study revealed that sorghum grains collected across those districts were significantly contaminated with co-occurrences of several mycotoxins. Farmers should be the main target groups to be trained on the improved management of sorghum production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins in Feed, Food, Nutraceuticals, and Functional Food)
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