Assessment of dietary exposure to deoxynivalenol and fumonisin in the population of infants and toddlers in Turkey

Abstract

This study aims to estimate dietary exposure to deoxynivalenol and fumonisins (FBs) of infants and toddlers in Turkey. A total of 75 processed cereal-based foods intended for infants and toddlers collected between July and October 2018, were analysed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). DON was determined in 21.3% of samples with mean middle bound (MB) level of 28.4 mu g/kg. Of the 16 quantifiable samples, only one showed values above 200 mu g/kg. Fumonisin B-1 (FB1) was detected at quantifiable levels only in three samples, while FB2 was not found in any sample. Estimated mean MB chronic dietary exposures to DON in infants and toddlers were 0.161 and 0.118 mu g/kg b.w. per day, while 95th percentile (P95) MB exposures to DON were estimated at 0.564 and 0.414 mu g/kg b.w. per day, respectively. Mean MB dietary exposures to FBs for infants and toddlers, respectively, were 0.093 and 0.068 mu g/kg b.w. per day; P95 exposure estimates were 0.079 and 0.058 mu g/kg b.w. per day. Both for DON and FBs, mean and P95 exposures of infants and toddlers did not exceeded the threshold level of 1 mu g/kg b.w. per day and are therefore not of health concern.