Presence of mycotoxin in commercial infant formulas and baby foods from Italian market

In this study a total of 75 commercially Italian samples of baby foods, including 13 infant formula milks (infant formula powders, ready-to-use preparation), 11 dairy products (cheese and yogurt), 25 cereal-based baby foods, 16 fruit and vegetables compotes, and 10 fruit and vegetables purees (composed of pear, peach, banana and for apple), were analyzed to provide an overview on mycotoxin presence. The presence was carried out by evaluating of 23 mycotoxins: ochratoxin-A (OTA), patulin (PAT), two aflatoxins (AFM1, AFB1), three zearalenones (ZONs), which include zearalenone (ZON) and its metabolites (α-zearalenol (α-ZOL) and β-zearalenol (β-ZOL)), nine trichothecenes: deoxynivalenol (DON), 3-and 15-acetyl-deoxynivalenol (3-ADON and 15-ADON), diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS), nivalenol (NIV), fusarenon-X (FUS-X), T-2 toxin (T-2) and HT-2 toxin (HT-2), and five emerging mycotoxins: four enniatins ENs (ENA, ENA1, ENB and ENB1), and beauvericin (BEA). Analytical results showed that 31% of cereal-based baby foods presented levels of mycotoxins. The frequencies of detected mycotoxins, OTA, DON, HT-2, FUS-X, NIV, β-ZOL, ENB, ENB1, ENB4, ENA1 and, BEA, in analyzed samples were 20%, 21%, 3%, 24%, 4%, 7%, 15%, 1%, 5%, 4%, and 1%, respectively. The high value registered was for a cereal-based baby food which contained 832 μg/kg of ENB. 27% of analyzed samples presented co-occurrence of different mycotoxins. •An overview of 23 mycotoxin presence in baby foods from Italy.•Estimated the mycotoxin exposure of Italian infant over baby foods.•Co-occurrence of different mycotoxins in the same sample.•Comparison of results with the ML and the data available in the literature.