Survey of Fusarium mycotoxin contaminations in Korean and imported cereals

Abstract

A survey for occurrences of Fusarium mycotoxins in Korean and imported cereals was conducted. Thirty eight samples of cereals harvested in 1990 from 9 provinces in Korea, thirty six samples of cereals imported in 1989 and 1990, eleven samples of cereals donated from Iran were analyzed for deoxynivalenol (DON), nivalenol (NIV), T-2 toxin and zearalenone (ZEN) using gas chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Among the 85 cereal samples, 17 samples were found to be positive for DON, NIV, T-2 toxin and ZEN in the range of 106-368 ng/g, 105-395 ng/g and 7-697 ng/g, respectively. The contaminated mycotoxins were DON in barley (Korea and Iran), rice (India), corn (Korea and China), wheat (Canada, France and India) and oats (Iran), NIV in rice (Japan), wheat (Iran and Canada) and oats (U.S.A.), T-2 toxin in barley (Canada) and ZEN in barley (Korea and Canada), corn (U.S.A. and China), oats (Canada) and grain sorghum (Korea and U.S.A.).