A survey of trichothecenes, zearalenone and patulin in milled grain-based products using GC–MS/MS

•A multi-mycotoxin method was validated for cereal-based and gluten-free food products.•Occurrence and co-occurrence of mycotoxins were evaluated in 182 samples.•64.8% of the samples showed contamination with at least one mycotoxin.•Deoxynivalenol and HT-2 toxins co-occurred in 76% of the co-contaminated samples.•Average consumers showed a probable daily intake lower than tolerable daily intake. An analytical protocol based on QuEChERS and gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS) was successfully applied for the determination of trichothecenes, patulin and zearalenone in 182 milled grain-based samples. The analytical method was validated following the SANCO 1495/2011 document. LOQs were lower than 10μgkg−1 for the selected mycotoxins. Recoveries of fortified cereals ranged between 76–108% and 77–114% at 20 and 80μgkg−1, respectively, with relative standard deviation lower than 9%. More than 60% of the samples analysed showed deoxynivalenol contamination, followed by HT-2 toxin and nivalenol with frequencies of 12.1% and 10.4%, respectively. Co-occurrence of mycotoxins was also present in major cereals. A risk characterisation was carried out based on probable daily intake (PDI) and tolerable daily intake (TDI). Despite PDI of the average consumers were below TDI, special attention should be paid in high consumers as well as other susceptible population.