Evaluation of beauvericin and enniatins in Italian cereal products and multicereal food by liquid chromatography coupled to triple quadrupole mass spectrometry

Abstract

In this study, 48 multicereal baby foods samples including 25 of pasta and 23 of multicereal baby foods from supermarkets of Campania region (Italy) were analysed for evaluating the presence of beauvericin (BEA) and enniatins (ENs) A, A1, B, B1 and B4. Subsequently to evaluate the risk exposure of Italian population and infant population over the consumption of pasta or multicereal baby food, was, respectively, evaluated. For the above mentioned evaluation, a method developed in our laboratory by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry was used. A liquid phase dispersion procedure was optimised for the simultaneous extraction of BEA and the five ENs from multicereal baby food samples and pasta. The main parameters affecting extraction yield and selectivity, extraction solvent were evaluated. The method was validated by analysis for pasta and multicereal baby food samples fortified at different concentration levels (from 0.5 to 20μg/kg). Average recoveries (n=5) ranged from 85% to 99% with relative standard deviation lower than 13%. Limits of quantification (LQs) for both matrices ranged from 1 to 10μg/kg. Analytical results showed that the occurrence of BEA, ENA, ENA1, ENB, ENB1 and ENB4 in analysed pasta and multicereal baby food samples were below 68% and 74%, respectively. ENB was the mycotoxin most found and levels in pasta and baby food ranged from <LQ to 106 and from <LQ to 1100μg/kg, respectively. It was observed a high incidence (70.3%) and high contamination levels (<1100μg/kg) of these mycotoxins in multicereal baby food and its intakes could represent a risk for the infant population (estimated daily intake <7.23μg/kgbw/day).