Mycotoxins in cereals and cereal products in Slovenia – Official control of foods in the years 2008–2012

In this study, 290 different cereals and cereal products, sampled on Slovenian market under official control in the years 2008–2012, were investigated on the presence of mycotoxins: aflatoxins (AF), ochratoxin A (OTA), fumonisins B1 and B2 (FB), deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenone (ZON) and T-2/HT-2 toxins. Methods used for mycotoxins determination, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC–MS), were all in accordance with European Union requirements, therefore accredited or at least validated, performed in the Slovenian accredited official laboratory. Altogether 40% of cereal samples contained one or more mycotoxins and 2.4% of them exceeded European Union maximum levels with one or more mycotoxins. The comparison of results regarding the share of non-compliant results do not show any extreme positive or negative deviations from other EU results. Among all cereal foods, wheat products could contribute most to the exposure of Slovenian inhabitants to mycotoxins, because of their relative high contamination rate (71%), high share of samples exceeding EU maximum levels (6%), predominantly with DON, and their by far the highest consumption, compared to other cereals. Maize products, as second most consumed cereals, could also contribute to exposure a lot, due to their relatively high mean mycotoxin concentrations. The most frequently co-occurred mycotoxin combinations were DON-ZON in wheat, DON-T-2/HT-2 in oat and FB-DON and FB-DON-ZON in maize products. From the point of view of method of farming/processing, where a small number of data were available, cereal samples from conventional farming had the lowest mean mycotoxin concentrations and were the least contaminated/non-compliant (32%/1%), compared to organic (46%/2.2%) and integrated ones (87%/10%); the integrated farming method is based on national legislation. The present study shows the necessity for continuation of official control on mycotoxins in cereals and cereal products and it could be the base for improving control plans and analytics in the future. •40% of 290 cereal samples contained mycotoxins and 2.4% were non-compliant.•Wheat and maize products could contribute most to the exposure to mycotoxins.•DON had the highest rate of positive and non-compliant results among mycotoxins.•Cereals from conventional farming were the least contaminated, non-compliant.•There were no extreme p