Multi-Mycotoxin Long-Term Monitoring Survey on North-Italian Maize over an 11-Year Period (2011-2021): The Co-Occurrence of Regulated, Masked and Emerging Mycotoxins and Fungal Metabolites.

Maize is considered one of the most susceptible crops to mycotoxin-producing fungi throughout the world, mainly belonging to the spp. and spp. Maize is mainly used as animal feeds in Italy, as well as for human consumption, being essential for all the protected designation of origin (DOP) products.

The Role of Nitrogen Fertilization on the Occurrence of Regulated, Modified and Emerging Mycotoxins and Fungal Metabolites in Maize Kernels.

The European Food Safety Authority is currently evaluating the risks related to the presence of emerging mycotoxins in food and feeds. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of soil fertility, resulting from different nitrogen fertilization rates, on the contamination of regulated mycotoxins and emerging fungal metabolites in maize grains. The trial was carried out in the 2012-2013 growing seasons as part of a long-term (20-year) experimental platform area in North-West Italy, where five different N rates, ranging from 0 to 400 kg N ha, were applied to maize each year.

The Effect of Foliar Fungicide and Insecticide Application on the Contamination of Fumonisins, Moniliformin and Deoxynivalenol in Maize Used for Food Purposes.

The fungal ear rot of maize cultivated in temperate areas is mainly due to the species. The use of insecticides against European Corn Borer (ECB) reduces the severity of fungal ear rot as well as the fumonisin (FB) and moniliformin (MON) levels in maize kernels at harvest, which in turn results in a lowering of their effect on deoxynivalenol (DON) control. However, the direct fungicidal control of ear rot has rarely been implemented for maize, and the first studies reported conflicting results on the reduction of mycotoxins.

Influence of HO-Induced Oxidative Stress on In Vitro Growth and Moniliformin and Fumonisins Accumulation by and .

and are common pathogens of maize which are known to produce mycotoxins, including moniliformin (MON) and fumonisins (FBs). Fungal secondary metabolism and response to oxidative stress are interlaced, where hydrogen peroxide (HO) plays a pivotal role in the modulation of mycotoxin production. The objective of this study is to examine the effect of HO-induced oxidative stress on fungal growth, as well as MON and FBs production, in different isolates of these fungi.

Commercial Organic Versus Conventional Whole Rye and Wheat Flours for Making Sourdough Bread: Safety, Nutritional, and Sensory Implications.

Organic farming is gaining a broad recognition as sustainable system, and consumer demand for organic products has increased dramatically in the recent past. Whether organic agriculture delivers overall advantages over conventional agriculture is, however, contentious. Here, the safety, nutritional, and sensory implications of using commercial organic rye, soft, and durum wheat flours rather than conventional-made sourdough bread have been investigated.

Effects of Durum Wheat Cultivars with Different Degrees of FHB Susceptibility Grown under Different Meteorological Conditions on the Contamination of Regulated, Modified and Emerging Mycotoxins.

The enhancement of head blight (FHB) resistance is one of the best options to reduce mycotoxin contamination in wheat. This study has aimed to verify that the genotypes with high tolerance to deoxynivalenol could guarantee an overall minimization of the sanitary risk, by evaluating the contamination of regulated, modified and emerging mycotoxins on durum wheat with different degrees of FHB susceptibility, grown under different meteorological conditions, in 8 growing seasons in North-West Italy. The years which were characterized by frequent and heavy rainfall in spring were also those with the highest contamination of deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, moniliformin, and enniatins.

Fate of regulated, masked, emerging mycotoxins and secondary fungal metabolites during different large-scale maize dry-milling processes.

The use of maize in the food chain could be mainly limited due to its contamination by mycotoxins. As scarce information is available, the current study is aimed at collecting new data on the co-occurrence and the fate of the most frequent masked, modified and emerging mycotoxins and other second fungal metabolites in maize food products and by-products. Three maize lots, obtained in different growing seasons, were processed using two different degermination processes, a dry-degermination system or a tempering-degermination one, in order to compare the interaction between mycotoxins and the dry-milling management system.

Elevated CO Impact on Common Wheat ( L.) Yield, Wholemeal Quality, and Sanitary Risk.

The rising atmospheric CO concentration is expected to exert a strong impact on crop production, enhancing crop growth but threatening food security and safety. An improver wheat, a hybrid, and its parents were grown at elevated CO e[CO] in open field, and their yield and rheological, nutritional, and sanitary quality were assessed. For all cultivars, grain yield increased (+16%) and protein content decreased (-7%), accompanied by a reduction in dough strength.

Development and Comparison of Two Multiresidue Methods for the Determination of 17 and Mycotoxins in Cereals Using HPLC-ESI-TQ-MS/MS.

Cereals can be contaminated by several mycotoxins, whose co-presence may represent an undervalued risk for humans and animals. Maize and wheat are the most contaminated cereals and in temperate areas could be affected in field conditions by several and infections. To date, only B-fumonisins (FBs), aflatoxins (AFs), zearalenone (ZEA), deoxynivalenol (DON) and T-2 and HT-2 toxins have been regulated in cereals in European Union.

Fumonisin Distribution in Maize Dry-Milling Products and By-Products: Impact of Two Industrial Degermination Systems.

In temperate areas, the main limitation to the use of maize in the food chain is its contamination by B-series fumonisins (FBs) during cultivation. Since the content of this group of mycotoxins may be distributed unevenly after milling, the aim of this study was to compare the distribution of FBs in maize fractions derived from two industrial dry-milling processes, that is, a dry-degermination (DD) system and a tempering-degermination (TD) system. Grain cleaning reduces FBs by about 42%.

Application of Fungicides and Microalgal Phenolic Extracts for the Direct Control of Fumonisin Contamination in Maize.

Fungicides and, for the first time, microalgal phenolic extracts (MPE) from Spirulina sp. and Nannochloropsis sp. were applied on maize culture media under field conditions to evaluate their ability to minimize Fusarium species development and fumonisin production.

Antineoplastic drugs determination by HPLC-HRMS(n) to monitor occupational exposure.

The purpose of this study was to develop a simple, direct, multiresidue highly specific procedure to evaluate the possible surface contamination of selected antineoplastic drugs in several hospital environment sites by using wipe test sampling. 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), carboplatin (C-Pt), cyclophosphamide (CYC), cytarabine (CYT), doxorubicin (DOX), gemcitabine (GEM), ifosfamide (IFO), methotrexate (MET), and mitomycin C (MIT) belong to very different chemical classes but show good ionization properties under electrospray ionization (ESI) conditions (negative ion mode for 5-FU and positive ion mode in all other cases). HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) coupled with HRMS (high resolution mass spectrometry) appears to be the best technique for direct analysis of these analytes, because neither derivatization nor complex extraction procedure for polar compounds in samples is requested prior the analysis.

Progressive Pearling of Barley Kernel: Chemical Characterization of Pearling Fractions and Effect of Their Inclusion on the Nutritional and Technological Properties of Wheat Bread.

Two hulled barley varieties have been sequentially pearled for one to eight cycles, each with 5% removal. The derived fractions were analyzed for their bioactive compound content. The dietary fiber (DF) decreased from the external to the internal layers, whereas β-glucans showed an inverse trend.

Role of the European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis) on contamination of maize with 13 Fusarium mycotoxins.

The European corn borer (ECB) plays an important role in promoting Fusarium verticillioides infections and in the consequent fumonisin contamination in maize grain in temperate areas. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether the ECB feeding activity could also affect the occurrence of emerging mycotoxins in maize kernels. During the 2008-10 period, natural infestation of the insect was compared, in field research, with the protection of infestation, which was obtained by using an entomological net.

Moniliformin analysis in maize samples from North-West Italy using multifunctional clean-up columns and the LC-MS/MS detection method.

A fast clean-up method has been developed to purify maize extracts and to detect moniliformin (MON) in maize samples from North-West Italy over a four-year period (2008-2011). The method is based on the use of MycoSep® 240 Mon clean-up columns (Romer Labs®). Samples were extracted using acetonitrile/water (84:16, v/v), and the extracts were purified with previously described clean-up columns.