Influence of the industrial process from caryopsis to cornmeal semolina on levels of fumonisins and their masked forms

The influence of cornmeal industrial production processing on the distribution of fumonisins in the various different production chain corn derivatives (corn, corn flour, germ, middlings, broken corn, cornflake and cornmeal flour)was studied. Free and hydrolyzed fumonisin fractions were extracted and their content was determined by HPLC-MS/MS analysis. Results showed that fumonisin amounts decreased significantly after cleaning and cornflaking processes, achieving a final reduction of about 40% in the cornmeal semolina, while higher level of contamination in corn flour (fumetto) and middlings were detected. Furthermore, in order to better understand the influence of the different treatments on fumonisin distribution, the occurrence of their free and masked forms during this industrial processing was investigated. Results for masked fumonisins showed that they were not detected probably due to different climatic and technological factors. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.