Abstract

Forty-five samples of a landrace of sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum) widely cultivated in Basilicata (Italy) werescreened for 17 mycotoxins and potential toxigenic fungal species. Two different LC-MS/MS methods were usedfor the determination of aflatoxins, ochratoxin A (OTA), Fusarium mycotoxins zearalenone (ZEA), fumonisins (FB1and FB2), nivalenol (NIV), deoxynivalenol (DON), T-2 and HT-2 toxins and Alternaria mycotoxins altenuene (ALT),alternariol (AOH), alternariol monomethyl ether (AME), tentoxin (TTX) and tenuazonic acid (TeA). Frequencyof potential toxigenic fungal species occurrence was: 87% Aspergillus Sect. Nigri; 58% Aspergillus Sect. Flavi; 38%Aspergillus Sect. Circumdati; 42% Alternaria spp.; 33% Penicillium spp. and 20% Fusarium spp. Frequency ofmycotoxin occurrence and mean of positives were: 51% OTA, 29.5 µg/kg, 5 samples above the EU limit of 20 µg/kg;31% aflatoxins, 12.8 µg/kg, two samples above the EU limit of 5 µg/kg for aflatoxin B1; 91% ZEA, 1.4 µg/kg; 78%FB2, 7.6 µg/kg; 58% FB1, 22.8 µg/kg; 38% NIV, 39.5 µg/kg; 36% DON, 6.9 µg/kg; 20% T-2 toxin, 5.6 µg/kg and 22%HT-2 toxin, 13.8 µg/kg. For the Alternaria mycotoxins, 100% of samples contained TeA, 4817.9 µg/kg; 93% TTX,29.7 µg/kg; 56% AOH, 114.4 µg/kg; 33% AME, 13.0 µg/kg and 9% ALT, 61.7 µg/kg. Co-occurrence of mycotoxinsin each sample ranged from 2 to 16 mycotoxins (mean 7). No statistical correlation was found between mouldsand their mycotoxins occurrence. Within the four groups of peppers collected herein (fresh, dried, grounded andfried) higher percentages of contamination and mycotoxin levels were measured in grounded peppers, whereasmuch lower values were observed for fried peppers. The high percentages of positive samples and the high levelsof some mycotoxins observed in this study confirm the susceptibility of peppers to mycotoxin contamination andclaims for an improvement of the conditions used during production and drying process.

Autore Pugliese

• Logrieco Antonio Francesco , Perrone Giancarlo , Gambacorta Lucia , Solfrizzo Michele

Tutti gli autori

• Gambacorta L.; Magistà D.; Perrone G.; Murgolo S.; Logrieco A.F.; Solfrizzo M.

Titolo volume/Rivista

World mycotoxin journal

Anno di pubblicazione

2018

ISSN

1875-0796

ISBN

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Numero di citazioni Wos

Nessuna citazione

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Settori ERC

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