Researchers from Ghent University, the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium and the Agricultural and Biotechnology Centre in Hungary screened 205 cornflake samples, conventionally produced and organic, purchased from retail outlets in Belgium, for the natural occurrence of fumonisin B1 (FB1), B2 (FB2), and B3 (FB3).
Fusarium toxins are produced by several species of the genus Fusarium which infect the grain of developing cereals such as wheat and maize. They include a range of mycotoxins including the fumonisins, which affect the nervous systems of horses and cause cancer in rodents.
In addition to infecting the grains, fumonisins are associated with foods derived from maize such as polenta, corn snacks and cornflakes.
The UN's 56th Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives has set a provisional maximum tolerable daily intake (PMTDI) for nephrotoxicity at 2 microgram per kg of fumonisins B1, B2, and B3, alone or in combination, per kg of bodyweight per day.
Cooking in alkaline water can reduce fumonisin levels in food products and baking, frying and extrusion processes at temperatures around 190 o C can also diminish their presence.
The scientists in the study practiced rapid screening using a flow-through enzyme immunoassay method to demonstrate the practicability of a screening test, coupled to a validated confirmatory LC-MS/MS method for the management of food safety risks.
FB1 concentrations ranged from not detected to 464 microgram/kg with mean and median concentrations of respectively 104 ± 113 and 54 microgram/kg.
For FB2 and FB3, the concentration ranges varied respectively from not detected to 43 microgram/kg and from not detected to 90 microgram/kg.
Concentrations of fumonisins were higher in the organic samples, significantly so in the case of FB1.
But the scientists concluded from the statistical tests that the agricultural practice did not have any significant effect on the fumonisin concentrations, but that the variation between different batches was significant.
Although they reported that there were no significant differences in fumonisin content cornflake brands.
Full findings are published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry .